Torn Apart
by cleotheo
Summary: Hermione Granger has the ideal life with a job she loves and a gorgeous fiancé. However one tragic weekend changes everything for Hermione. While Hermione tries to cope with recent events her best friend, Harry Potter, sets out to find the truth about the shocking events that devastated Hermione's life.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N - Some background info on the story, while everything but the epilogue of the books happened I've kept two characters alive who died in the books, Crabbe and Fred.**

* * *

Hermione Granger pulled off her healer robes and hung them up in her locker in the staff room at St Mungo's. Grabbing her jacket and bag from the locker and locking it, she left the staff room and headed towards the front exit. Despite working most of the night Hermione needed to get a few things from the shops before she returned home to go to sleep for a few hours.

As she left the wizarding hospital Hermione spoke to several staff members. Hermione was extremely popular among the staff as she was friendly and always willing to chat and offer advice if it was needed. After finally leaving work Hermione found herself in muggle London where she did her little bit of shopping before heading home.

Hermione lived in an expensive penthouse situated in an exclusive part of wizarding London. The penthouse was situated on the top floor of a magnificent block of flats that overlooked the River Thames. Hermione would never have been able to afford such an expensive place on her own but luckily her fiancé, Draco Malfoy, had a large inheritance and as managing director of his family's company he made plenty of money.

Hermione and Draco had been together for four years, after they both returned to Hogwarts after the war. Despite a prickly start they managed to put their differences behind them and became friends. Friendship slowly developed into a romance and by the time school was finished they were officially a couple. After school they both returned to their childhood homes as they began their careers, but slightly less than a year later they bought the penthouse and moved in together. After living together for nearly two years Draco had finally proposed six months ago and the couple were currently trying to agree on a wedding date and what sort of wedding they wanted.

Arriving home Hermione hung up her jacket in the hallway and put down her bag. It wasn't until Hermione was removing her shoes that she heard the noise of the television in the front room. Hermione frowned and pulled out her wand before she began to quietly make her way to the front room. Draco had left early yesterday morning to spend the weekend with his friends so the penthouse should have been empty.

Hermione peered round the doorway into the front room, breathing a sigh of relief when she spotted the familiar black head of her best friend, Harry Potter. Harry was the only one of their friends with a key to the penthouse but he rarely used it so Hermione was curious as to what had prompted her friend to turn up at her house on a Sunday morning.

"Harry, what are you doing here?" Hermione asked, getting her friends attention.

Harry whirled round in shock but smiled when he saw Hermione. "Sorry, Hermione. I had nowhere else to go."

"Have you and Ginny being fighting again?" Hermione asked, sitting down next to Harry on the sofa.

Harry and Ginny had been together since the end of the war but over the last year they had been fighting much more than usual. Harry never really spoke about what he and Ginny fought about so Hermione actually had no idea what sort of problems her friend was having in his relationship. Usually when the couple fought Harry would turn up at the penthouse and spend time with Hermione and Draco.

"It's all we do these days." Harry sighed.

"I'm sorry, Harry." Hermione said. "You know you can stay here if you need to."

"Thanks, Hermione." Harry said. It wasn't the first time he had stayed at Hermione's and he doubted it would be the last as long as his relationship with Ginny was as volatile.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Hermione asked, stifling a yawn.

"You look tired." Harry said, latching onto anything that would help him avoid talking about his problems with Ginny. "Have you been at work all night?"

"Yeah. There's a flu epidemic at work so I've been working a double shift." Hermione said.

"Why don't you go to bed for a few hours. We'll talk after you get up." Harry suggested. "I'll just watch TV and I'm sure Draco can keep me entertained whenever he shows up."

"Draco's away with his friends for the weekend." Hermione said.

Once a month Draco spent the weekend with his friends from school. The group of Slytherin's spent the weekend doing various activities, each month someone different picked the activity and the men participated in a variety of wizarding and muggle activities.

Harry made a face at the mention of Draco's friends. Harry knew that Draco had changed after the war and they had since struck up a friendship as a result of the blond's relationship with Hermione. Draco's friends however were a different story. Harry knew they had been unimpressed with Draco's relationship with Hermione and while they had now accepted her as part of Draco's life Harry suspected they still disapproved. Harry had also suspected that, unlike Draco, his former friends hadn't abandoned their old beliefs and that they still believed that purebloods were superior. Luckily Harry didn't see a lot of the Slytherin's, so for the most part he could ignore their presence.

"Are you sure you don't mind if I go to bed?" Hermione asked.

"No." Harry said with a smile. "You go and we'll talk when you get up."

"Thanks Harry." Hermione pecked Harry on the cheek and stood up. "Help yourself to something to eat, there's plenty of food in the fridge." She added before leaving the front room.

In the hallway Hermione picked up her bag before she headed for the large master suite. Shutting the bedroom door behind her Hermione sat down on the bed. Opening her bag Hermione fished around for what she had been buying before she returned home, a muggle pregnancy test.

Hermione had actually been putting off conducting the pregnancy test for several days. As a healer Hermione knew the symptoms she had been experiencing lately all pointed to her being pregnant but she was putting off taking the test as she tried to decide how she felt about becoming a parent. Hermione and Draco had talked about having kids but it was something that they had decided would be better happening in the future, once they had been married for a few years.

Deciding to get it over with Hermione went into the en-suite bathroom and took the test. Sitting waiting for the result of the pregnancy test Hermione tried to decide when she had fallen pregnant.

On a whole Hermione and Draco were pretty good at using a contraception charm but due to the fiery nature of their relationship they did occasionally slip up with protection. The contraception charm worked best before sex but it did still work after, with varying degrees of success. The longer after the event you waited to use the charm the less likely it was to work properly. On more than one occasion Hermione and Draco had only remembered to cast the charm a couple of hours after they had been together as they were rather distracted at the time.

The only real possibility for conception Hermione could think of happened a month and a half ago. Hermione and Draco had been having dinner with Draco's mother, Narcissa, and the older witch was telling Hermione and Draco what would happen at their wedding. At the time no wedding plans had been discussed and Hermione was not impressed with her future mother-in-law trying to take over. Hermione had subtly tried to explain to Narcissa that they had made no final decisions on the wedding and a lot of what she was suggesting wouldn't be happening as it was distinctly old fashioned. Eventually the two women had ended up arguing and dinner had ended early. When they arrived home Hermione and Draco had had a huge fight about events at Narcissa's house. As the argument had escalated they ended up tearing each other clothes off and shagging furiously on the kitchen table. Hermione couldn't remember either of them casting the contraceptive charm at the time or afterwards, as the moment they had finished Hermione had stalked into the bedroom and locked Draco out of the room for the night.

Satisfied she knew when the baby was conceived Hermione braced herself for confirmation she was actually pregnant. Hermione looked down at the muggle pregnancy test and wasn't the slightest bit surprised to see the result was positive, she was definitely pregnant. After doing a muggle pregnancy test Hermione decided to do a wizarding one. Hermione had decided to do both tests as she knew the more sophisticated muggle tests were more accurate than the wizarding test and could actually detect pregnancy earlier. Although if she was right about the time of conception a wizarding test would certainly pick up the pregnancy.

After confirming her pregnancy using magic Hermione cleared away the muggle pregnancy test and headed back into the bedroom. Hermione stripped off her clothes and pulled on a pair of light blue pyjama's. Hermione then cast a spell to block the bright sunlight coming in from the closed curtains before she crawled into bed. As she drifted off to sleep Hermione wondered about Draco's reaction to her news. Would he be happy about the prospect of being a father or would he be unimpressed with their carelessness?

* * *

Harry sat staring at the large flat screen television in Hermione and Draco's penthouse, not really paying attention to what was happening on the screen. Instead of paying attention to the cricket match he was watching Harry's mind was firmly on his relationship problems.

If Harry was being honest with himself his relationship with Ginny had been suffering ever since Ginny finished school. For the first year after the war, when Ginny had returned to school and Harry had begun Auror training, everything had been perfect between the newly re-united couple. Once Ginny finished school and the couple found themselves spending more time together the cracks started to appear. It soon became clear to Harry that Ginny hadn't quite forgiven him for ending their relationship after Dumbledore's death. Ginny also seemed to have become convinced that Harry would do the same again if he felt his job put her in danger. Despite Harry reassuring Ginny that wouldn't happen it was still a sore point between the couple.

Along with Ginny's insecurities came a jealous streak that Harry hadn't realised his girlfriend possessed. Ginny regularly accused Harry of flirting with other women, something Harry always venomously denied. In the last year it had gotten really bad and Ginny hated Harry speaking with any woman other than Hermione. Harry knew the only reason Ginny wasn't jealous of his friendship with Hermione was that Hermione was very happy with Draco. Ginny's jealously usually showed itself in full force whenever Harry attended one of her Quidditch matches. Ginny played professionally for The Holyhead Harpies, an all-female team, so Harry couldn't exactly avoid talking to other women. Harry had even started not attending matches but that just caused even more arguments.

It was actually Harry's no-show at Ginny's game the previous day that had led to their latest argument and resulted in Harry spending his Sunday at his best friend's house.

Harry shook his head to dislodge depressing thoughts of his relationship. He decided to forget all about his problems until Hermione woke up and he could speak to her. Getting up Harry went into the kitchen in search of a drink. Finding some beer in the fridge Harry helped himself to one and went back into the front room. Settling down on the sofa Harry turned his attention back to the cricket, while Quidditch was obviously his favourite sport Harry still enjoyed watching muggle sports and cricket was his favourite.

Several hours later Harry was still watching the match, totally engrossed as South Africa dominated England. Harry was so engrossed in the game that he almost didn't hear the front door. It was only as the knocking continued that Harry got up to answer the door, checking that the noise hadn't woken Hermione. When Hermione's bedroom door stayed shut Harry opened the front door to see who was making such a fuss.

Harry was shocked to see a flustered looking Theo Nott standing on the other side of the door. Before Harry could question why Theo wasn't with Draco and his friends, the Slytherin began to talk.

"There's been an accident. You have to get Hermione. I think Draco's dead."


	2. Chapter 2

Harry gaped at the Slytherin standing in the penthouse doorway, not understanding what was happening.

"Potter are you paying attention?" Theo asked impatiently. "This is important, I need to see Hermione."

"What do you mean, Draco's dead?" Harry asked, still struggling to understand what was happening.

"We were rock climbing in the mountains and there was an accident. Draco's rope snapped and he fell." Theo explained. "Wouldn't it be easier if you get Hermione and I can explain to you both together."

Harry nodded. "I'll go and get her."

As Theo entered the penthouse and shut the front door Harry headed back towards the bedroom. Harry paused in front of Hermione's door, not having any idea what to say to Hermione. Still unsure of what to say Harry knocked on the door. After knocking several times and not getting a reply Harry pushed open the door and entered the darkened room.

Harry could see the shape of Hermione curled up in the middle of the large bed. Hesitantly he walked over to the bed and perched on the end of it. Carefully he reached out and gently shook Hermione's shoulder as he softly called her name. After a few minutes Hermione started to stir.

"Harry?" Hermione questioned in a voice hoarse with sleep.

"Yeah. Hermione you need to get up." Harry said. "Something's happened."

"What?" Hermione questioned, stretching slightly as she became more alert.

"Theo's here, something's happened to Draco." Harry whispered quietly.

Hermione was suddenly wide awake, throwing off the covers she leapt out of bed and hurried out of the bedroom. Harry followed quickly behind Hermione as she made her way to the front room.

"What's going on Theo?" Hermione demanded as soon as she saw her fiancé's friend. "What's happened?"

"You should sit down." Theo said.

Hermione shook her head stubbornly but Harry pulled his friend onto the sofa and sat down next to her. Both of them looked expectantly at Theo who was standing in front of the fireplace and was clearly uncomfortable.

"This weekend's activity was rock climbing. It's something we've done before and we all really like it." Theo explained. "Everything was fine but suddenly this afternoon everything went wrong. While we were climbing this afternoon Draco's rope snapped and he fell. It all happened so quick that no-one had time to do anything to stop it."

"Is he alright?" Hermione asked as the tears began to fall.

Theo slowly shook his head. "He fell into a crevice and we couldn't find him. A couple of us returned to the hotel and a rescue mission was launched."

Hermione was now crying heavily and had her head cradled in her hands so Harry figured he better try to get all the facts from Theo.

"What sort of rescue mission, muggle or wizarding?" Harry asked.

"Both. We were staying in a wizarding hotel but we were climbing in a muggle area. When I left the rescue mission was under way and they were doing everything they could." Theo said.

"I need to go there." Hermione whispered.

"Hermione, I don't think that's a good idea." Harry said. "We should wait here and Theo can keep us updated."

"No, I'm going." Hermione cried, standing up. "I'm getting dressed and when I'm finished we're going."

Hermione rushed out of the room and back into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. The two men watched her go before turning round and facing each other.

"Why didn't you tell Hermione that you think Draco's dead?" Harry asked. He didn't want Hermione getting her hopes up that Draco would be fine if he was already gone.

"I didn't know how to tell her and I'm hoping I'm wrong." Theo said.

"You mean he could be alive?" Harry asked.

"I doubt it." Theo admitted. "He fell into a crevice and the rescuers have admitted the chances of recovering his body are slim."

Harry swore and dropped his head into his hands. It didn't sound good and Harry didn't think Hermione would take losing Draco very well.

* * *

Hermione sank down on the bed and cried as she let what Theo had told her sink in. As the implications of what he said dawned on Hermione she felt a wave of nausea and had to rush to the bathroom. After being sick several times Hermione picked herself up off the floor and brushed her teeth.

Hermione then headed back into the bedroom and began getting dressed. Hermione wasn't stupid, she understood what Theo was saying when he said that Draco had fallen into a crevice. He was saying that they might never find him but Hermione refused to believe that, she was determined to think positive.

Once she was dressed Hermione returned to the front room where Theo and Harry were standing by the fireplace. Silently Hermione activated the floo, it was never active unless either her or Draco did it as neither of them liked unexpected visitors just popping in.

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked Theo.

"Wales. The Hotel's called The Traveller's Pocket." Theo said. "Should I go first?"

Hermione nodded and Theo grabbed a handful of floo powder before stepping into the green flames and calling out his destination. Hermione went next, closely followed by Harry.

Stepping out of the flames Hermione looked around the lobby of a nice looking hotel. Theo was standing waiting for her and Hermione rushed to his side. Once Harry was also with them Theo explained that they wouldn't be allowed onto the mountains and would have to wait at the hotel.

"The rescue mission being co-ordinated from here." Theo said. "The others should still be there, unless there's been any news."

Theo led Hermione and Harry towards the room where the rescue mission was being organised from. Theo led them down a corridor, finally stopping outside a door that read conference room D. Theo knocked on the door and within minutes a tall man with sandy brown hair opened it.

"This is Draco's fiancé, Hermione Granger. Hermione this is the manager of the hotel, Daniel Jackson." Theo said, introducing the man. "Mr Jackson is handling things here."

"Miss Granger, please come in and sit down." Daniel said.

Hermione and Harry entered the room and sat down where they were asked to. Theo immediately wandered over to the other side of the room where Hermione and Harry could see Draco's other friends, Blaise Zabini, Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe.

"I'm Harry Potter." Harry introduced himself as Theo had failed to do so earlier. "What's happening? Have you found Draco yet?"

"There's an expert team up on the mountains, they use both muggle and magical means of rescue. Unfortunately the crevice in question in virtually bottomless so things aren't progressing quickly."

"Would he have survived the fall?" Hermione asked quietly. "Please be honest with me." She added when she noticed the hotel manager looked uncertain as to how to answer her.

"Honestly, no." Daniel shook his head sadly. "The trauma would have been too severe. I'm afraid at this point we're looking at recovering the body, although I wouldn't be holding out much hope there."

Hermione was once again crying profusely and Harry put his arm around her and hugged her into his body.

"Why not?" Harry asked the manager as he continued to comfort Hermione.

"As I mentioned the crevice is bottomless." The manager said. "Even magic doesn't guarantee a retrieval."

"Thank you for being honest with me." Hermione said, still crying heavily.

"Would you like a room so you can rest?" Daniel asked, feeling bad for the clearly devastated woman in front of him. "I can come and find you when we have news."

"No, I want to stay here." Hermione said. She knew that once she was alone she would break down completely and for the time being she needed to stay strong.

"Just let me know if you need anything." The manager said, standing up. "I'm very sorry."

The manager hurried away to carry on with his job leaving Hermione and Harry alone. Harry had no idea what to say to Hermione so he settled on hugging her as she cried softly. After a few minutes Hermione brushed Harry away and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked.

"To talk to Draco's friends." Hermione replied, making her way across the room.

Harry followed Hermione as she approached the gang of Slytherin men. The four men were all sitting looking depressed but quickly stood up when they saw Hermione approaching. As they hugged Hermione and told her how sorry they were Harry briefly wondered if he had being wrong about the group. They all seemed perfectly nice in regards to Hermione and all seemed genuinely concerned about her.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione." Blaise Zabini said, offering Hermione a seat. "I was the one who chose this weekend's activity."

"It's not your fault, Blaise." Hermione said. "You didn't know this was going to happen."

Harry caught a flicker of an emotion that was anything but sadness on Blaise's face but before he had time to analyse it properly, it was gone and the Slytherin went back to looking upset. Harry tried to convince himself he was imagining things but he still found himself studying the group closely as they talked quietly. Despite never seeing the group look anything but sad Harry couldn't help but feel there was an underlying tension among the friends as he observed them over the next few hours.

"Do you think we should inform Narcissa?" Theo asked after a while.

"She's in France." Hermione replied quietly. "We should wait until we know more, there's nothing she can do here anyway."

Hermione felt fresh tears well up as she thought of how Narcissa would take the news. Draco was her only son and after Lucius' lifetime imprisonment after the war Narcissa had relied on Draco to help her cope. Hermione thought that the news could potentially destroy Narcissa and Hermione didn't know if she would be strong enough to help Draco's mother.

Hermione dropped her head into her hands as she tried not to think about the rescue mission taking place on the nearby mountains. This morning all she had to worry about was how Draco would take the news about becoming a father but now she was suddenly facing the prospect of losing her fiancé.

Instead of thinking about Draco, Hermione forced her attention onto the baby she was carrying. When she had taken the test earlier in the day she had been so focused on Draco's possible reaction that she hadn't actually allowed herself to react to the news. The more Hermione thought about the baby the more she was getting excited about becoming a mother. The timing may not have been exactly as her and Draco would have hoped but Hermione couldn't help but be thrilled at the idea of having Draco's baby.

Despite trying to focus on the baby Hermione's thoughts kept wandering back to Draco and she couldn't help but think that her life would be turned upside down by events of the weekend. Hermione was trying hard not to dwell on her own future when a burst on noise from the doorway distracted her.

Hermione looked up to see there was a large group of men entering the room, all of them dressed in rescue gear. Hermione saw the manager of the hotel speak to a man who shook his head before he turned to face them. As the manager walked over to where Hermione and Draco's friends were gathered Hermione clung onto Harry knowing from his face that the news wasn't good.

"I'm sorry but the search has officially been called off. The team have done all they can and I'm afraid it's not possible to retrieve the body." The manager said, addressing Hermione despite the men surrounding her. "I'm afraid your fiancé has been officially declared dead."

"No." Hermione cried, sinking to the floor as she wept. Despite knowing that this news was coming hearing someone actually saying Draco was dead was too much for Hermione to handle.

Harry squatted down next to Hermione and gathered his friend in his arms, tears falling from his own eyes. Harry was mainly crying for Hermione and what she would go through as she grieved for the man she loved. He also knew a few of the tears were for Draco, who had actually become a good friend in the last few years.

Harry let Hermione cry for several minutes before he pulled her to her feet, all the time supporting her weight as she sagged against him, not having the energy to stand on her own.

"I'm taking Hermione home." Harry told the assembled Slytherins.

They all nodded and made arrangements to be in touch but once again Harry felt there was something slightly off with their sentiments. After his initial thoughts about misjudging the Slytherin's Harry had felt nothing but uncomfortable around them since. Shaking off the bad vibes from the group Harry began to get Hermione away from them.

As Harry led Hermione back through the hotel towards the lobby his friend remained unresponsive as she cried softly. Harry carefully manoeuvred Hermione into the fireplace and flooed back to her penthouse. Once back at Hermione's Harry decided to put Hermione to bed, but got no response from his friend when he suggested that.

Harry was getting worried about Hermione's lack of responsiveness but the moment they entered the bedroom it changed. Hermione's crying, which had been soft and quiet, suddenly became more pronounced as Harry led her towards the bed. Harry watched with tears streaming down his own face as Hermione curled up on the bed, murmuring Draco's name as her heart broke.

Not knowing how to comfort his friend Harry went to leave the room when Hermione's hand suddenly wrapped around his wrist.

"Don't go." Hermione said through the tears.

Harry got onto the bed next to Hermione and wrapped his grieving friend in his arms. Harry sat trying to sooth Hermione as she cried heavily. Eventually Hermione cried herself to sleep and Harry carefully disentangled himself from her. Harry took one last look at Hermione before he left the bedroom.

Harry wasn't sure what would happen next but he was determined to make sure Hermione had her family and friends around to support her through this difficult time. Heading to the fireplace he found Hermione's parent's address and flooed to their place, he was planning on informing them of what had happened so that they could be there to support their daughter.

* * *

**A/N - Please don't hate me. I really hope people will carry on reading, despite the events of this chapter. There is still a long way to go in this story.**


	3. Chapter 3

The funeral service for Draco was a sombre affair with a great deal of mourners in attendance. A lot of former Slytherins were in attendance as Draco had been extremely popular within the house during his school years. Plenty of old pureblood families were there to show their support for Narcissa and the Malfoy family. Lots of Draco's employees and people he worked with were also at the service along with people he had made friends with since the war. There were also a few people who were attending to support Hermione more than anything as they hadn't known Draco that well.

Lucius Malfoy had even attended the service with a heavy guard of Auror's. The Death Eater had been given special permission to leave Azkaban to attend the funeral service of his only son. Lucius had kept to himself during the service as Narcissa hadn't even wanted her husband at the service as she blamed him for everything that had happened to Draco during the war. Lucius however was barely aware of his wife's animosity as nearly five years imprisonment had taken its toll on his mental health, it was a struggle for the wizard to even remember the horrible reason for the trip to the outside world.

After the moving service and ceremonial burying most people headed back to Malfoy Manor. Lucius was one of the few that didn't return to the Manor as he had only been given permission to attend the funeral service. At the Manor a large ballroom had been set up with food and drink so people could pay their respects to the family.

Harry stood in the corner watching the mourners, still finding it hard to believe that Draco was gone. It had been just over a week since that dreadful Sunday afternoon and Harry still wasn't used to the fact Hermione's life had been torn apart. Thinking of his best friend Harry's eyes scanned the crowd until he found the brunette witch sitting next to Narcissa Malfoy.

Both Narcissa and Hermione had been devastated by losing Draco and neither woman had been able to cope with organising the funeral. Hermione's mother, Helen, and Molly Weasley had stepped in and organised everything.

As Harry watched people offer their condolences to the two witches he couldn't help but think how broken they both looked. Hermione was barely speaking since the accident and often had to be forced to eat and drink. Narcissa was hardly fairing much better and had even refused to attend the funeral a few days earlier. Hermione somehow managed to convince Narcissa to attend but the older witch still needed several potions from the healers to help get her through the devastation she was going through.

Harry tore his eyes away from Hermione and Narcissa and continued scanning the room. Molly and Arthur were standing talking to Hermione's parents while the rest of the Weasley family was also in attendance. Since the Weasley's loved Hermione like family they had accepted Draco and welcomed him into the family. Harry knew that most of the family would actually miss Draco a lot. Ginny was the exception as for some reason she hadn't warmed to the blond Slytherin.

As Harry scanned over the Weasley family he spotted a few old school friends with Ron and Ginny. Most of them were former Gryffindors and were here to support Hermione. Harry knew that neither Seamus Finnegan or Dean Thomas had spoken to Draco since school but they still wanted to show their support for Hermione. A couple that Harry knew had personally known Draco was Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. Harry knew for a fact that Draco and Hermione had been at the couple's engagement party a month ago and that Draco and Hermione even arranged to have dinner with Neville and Luna.

After a while Harry's gaze fell on Draco's group of friends. Earlier he had seen the group interacting with other people but now the small group were huddled together talking quietly. As well as the four men that had been with Draco over the weekend there was two women in the group. Pansy Parkinson, who was married to Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass, who was engaged to Theo Nott.

Harry watched the group still trying to decide what it was about them that made him uncomfortable. Since the accident they had been perfectly pleasant to Hermione and very helpful to Molly and Helen as they arranged the funeral. Blaise had even spoken very movingly about Draco at the service. Despite all this Harry still felt there was something not quite right with the group.

Keeping an eye on the group of Slytherins Harry made his way across the room to where the twins and Charlie were sitting. Harry sat down next to Fred, his attention still elsewhere.

"Are you alright Harry?" Charlie asked. "You look distracted."

"What do you guys think of Draco's friends?" Harry asked, nodding towards the group. "Is it just me or are they acting odd?"

"No odder than normal." George shrugged.

"What are you talking about Harry?" Fred asked. "You're making no sense."

"I know." Harry nodded. "There's just something about them I don't trust."

"Of course you don't trust them they're Slytherins." Fred said.

"And unlike Draco they've never done anything to prove they've changed after the war." George added.

"Why are you asking Harry?" Charlie questioned, sensing there was something Harry wasn't saying.

"I've been watching them since the accident and I'm not sure I believe they're genuinely upset by Draco's death." Harry said, pleased to be talking about his suspicions out loud. "Not one of them has shed a tear today."

"Just because they didn't cry doesn't mean they're not upset." Charlie said. "I'm upset but I didn't cry today."

"I didn't really expect the guys to cry but Pansy and Daphne haven't cried either." Harry pointed out. "Ginny cried throughout the ceremony and she didn't really like Draco."

"Pansy not crying is odd." Fred mused. "Everyone knows how close her and Draco used to be."

"Exactly." Harry exclaimed. "I'm telling you they're not really upset."

"That makes no sense Harry." Charlie shook his head. "They've been friends with Draco for years, of course they'll be upset. Just because they don't show it doesn't mean they're not hurting."

Fred and George agreed with Charlie but Harry still wasn't convinced. Harry knew that Slytherins didn't like to display their emotions but he was still convinced that there was something else going on. As Fred, George and Charlie changed the subject Harry sat brooding, trying to decided why Draco's friends weren't more upset.

The more Harry thought about things the more he was unhappy with the conclusions he was drawing. Harry tried to think of reasons that Draco's friends wouldn't be upset. The most obvious answer was they weren't upset because they didn't really care about him, but if that was the case why did they regularly spend a weekend every month with Draco? That particular question posed Harry with a new set of things to think about and it was then that he started to come to a shocking conclusion.

What if they were just pretending to be friends with Draco? What if they hadn't really accepted that he had changed his opinions after the war? What if they resented him for changing his life and getting involved with a muggleborn? What if they had planned the entire accident? What if it wasn't an accident?

As Harry asked himself these questions he became more convinced he was on the right track. Thinking back to the day of Draco's accident he remembered the odd look on Blaise's face when Hermione mentioned him not knowing what was going to happen. Harry also thought about how calm and composed Theo was when he arrived at the penthouse. Surely if he had just witnessed his friend have a horrific accident he would have been more shaken up but he seemed perfectly fine. In fact the whole group seemed fine when Harry had seen them at the hotel, they had all looked sad but none of them looked as they had just witnessed something so terrible.

Harry looked at the group of Slytherins again as he started to come to the conclusion that they had killed Draco. Part of him was reluctant to believe it but there was a little voice in his head telling him that he had gotten things right. Harry knew that when he returned to work the following day he would be investigating his theory but for now all he could do was keep an eye on the group and hope he was wrong.

* * *

Daphne Greengrass walked out of the bathroom and nearly collided with Narcissa Malfoy. Daphne looked at Draco's mother in surprise, not having seen her so close up all day. From a distance Narcissa looked like her normal composed self but up close Daphne could see the glimmer of glamour charms on her face. She also noticed how pale she was and how lifeless her eyes were.

"I'm really sorry Mrs Malfoy." Daphne said, feeling she had to say something to the older witch.

"Thank you, Daphne." Narcissa said quietly.

Not knowing what else to say Daphne quickly excused herself and hurried back towards her friends. As she left Daphne looked back in time to see Hermione hugging Narcissa before the two women made their way back to where they had been sitting for most of the afternoon. Daphne was still slightly shaken by her brief talk with Narcissa when she arrived at Theo's side.

"Are you okay, Daph?" Theo asked, wrapping his arm around Daphne's waist.

"No, I've just seen Narcissa." Daphne replied.

"Well it is her house." Blaise sneered.

"I know but I've just realised how hard she's taking this." Daphne said. "She doesn't deserve this."

"What are you getting at Daphne?" Pansy asked.

"I'm just thinking that we didn't really think this through. We never considered Narcissa." Daphne said.

"Will you be quiet." Blaise hissed, looking around in case anyone had heard Daphne.

"I am being quiet." Daphne whispered. "There's no-one nearby to hear."

"It doesn't matter. Now isn't the time to discuss this." Pansy said.

"When is?" Daphne asked.

"Never." Blaise stated firmly. "We've already done it so there's no point dwelling on the past."

"What about thinking about the future?" Daphne hissed. "We've destroyed the lives of two innocent women."

"You're not feeling sorry for the mudblood are you?" Theo asked his fiancé. "She's the reason we've had to do this."

"No, I don't feel sorry for Hermione." Daphne lied. She actually felt very sorry for Hermione, who was clearly devastated by recent events. "I do feel sorry for Narcissa."

"It's sad for Narcissa, but she stood by and let Draco abandon everything Lucius taught him." Blaise said. "If she'd been a better wife and mother this wouldn't have happened."

"You're a heartless bastard." Daphne hissed at Blaise.

"Don't start causing trouble, Daphne." Pansy said, annoyed at the witch for insulting her husband. "You were just as involved as the rest of us. You were perfectly happy with the plan."

"Maybe I'm not anymore. Maybe it's time to put things right." Daphne snapped, shrugging out of Theo's embrace and stalking off.

"Sort her out, Theo." Pansy hissed, pushing Theo to go after his fiancé.

Theo quickly went after Daphne to stop her doing anything stupid. When he found his fiancé Theo grabbed her arm and apparated them home before Daphne could react.

* * *

Harry watched the altercation between the Slytherins, wishing he could hear what they were saying. It was the first time all day the group had been anything but united and Harry watched intently. Obviously Daphne was the weak link, now all he had to do was figure out how to speak to her without arousing the group's suspicions.

"Still spying on the Slytherins?" Charlie asked, coming up behind Harry.

"Yes." Harry nodded, keeping his attention on the disagreeing group.

"You're convinced there's something going on aren't you?" Charlie said. Earlier he had dismissed Harry's theories but Charlie could now see that Harry was convinced that something untoward was happening.

"I don't think Draco's accident was an accident at all." Harry admitted.

"What? You think it was deliberate?" Charlie whispered, making sure no one had heard Harry's accusations.

Harry nodded. "Yes, but I don't want to talk about it here." Harry was also keen that no-one overheard his theories.

"Okay, but I think we should definitely discuss this." Charlie said. "Draco was my friend as well so if what happened to him wasn't an accident I want to know."

"Thanks Charlie." Harry said, relieved he had someone he could discuss his theories with.

"We can talk later." Charlie said, leaving Harry to continue observing the Slytherins.

Harry's observations didn't last long as the group only stayed another half hour or so after Daphne and Theo's exit. Harry watched as the group said their goodbyes to Narcissa and Hermione before they left.

Putting thoughts of evil Slytherins out of his mind Harry decided to concentrate on Hermione, he had been so distracted all afternoon he had barely given his friend a second thought. Feeling guilty for abandoning Hermione, Harry made his way over to his friend to check she was coping okay.


	4. Chapter 4

Hermione felt like she had been in a daze all day. She had only been vaguely aware of the funeral service and the wake afterwards. Hermione was convinced that the only way she had coped with the day was by concentrating on Narcissa. By helping Narcissa cope with the day's events Hermione didn't have to concentrate on the fact they were saying goodbye to the man she loved.

Once Hermione had left the Manor however she was finding it harder to ignore what the day had been about. Despite her mother fussing around the penthouse and Harry and Ron chatting away in the front room Hermione still felt all alone as she thought about the day's events.

Hermione was currently standing in the dining room looking out of the large window at the view of London spread out below her. Night was just falling and Hermione stood mesmerised as more lights appeared across the city. Hermione had always loved the view from this particular window and it was one of the first things she had noticed about the penthouse when her and Draco first viewed it when they were looking for somewhere to live.

"Hermione, come and sit down." Helen Granger called to her daughter. "I've made you some sandwiches."

"I'm not hungry." Hermione replied, still staring out of the window.

"I don't care, you need to eat." Helen insisted.

"I'm fine." Hermione sighed. She knew her mother was only nagging because she cared but Hermione was finding it tiring.

"Hermione Jean Granger, come and eat now." Helen demanded.

Hermione sighed but gave in to her mother's demands. She knew that if she didn't try and eat that her mother would only continue to nag. Hermione also knew that she really had to start taking better care of herself for the baby's sake.

So far Narcissa was the only person Hermione had confided in about her pregnancy. Hermione had told Draco's mother about the baby when she was trying to convince her to attend the funeral. Hermione had been seriously worried that Narcissa was going to take to her bed and never leave so she hoped that telling her about the baby would help her cope and give her something to concentrate on. Hermione's idea seemed to work as Narcissa showed some signs of life as she vowed to support Hermione and help her with the baby.

After managing to eat one of the sandwiches her mother had prepared for her Hermione took her plate into the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked. Her mother was currently searching the cupboards and had a small pile of food sitting on the kitchen counter.

"Sorting things out. You have a lot of food you don't even like." Helen replied, pulling a box of cereal out of the cupboard and examining it. "Look muesli, you hate muesli."

"It's not mine." Hermione muttered. The cereal belonged to Draco and it was one of the only things he would eat on a morning.

"I know sweetheart." Helen said, hugging Hermione. "I just thought it might be easier for you if I cleared things out for you."

"Thank you." Hermione said, grateful for her mother's kind thoughts. In the last week Hermione had thought about doing exactly what her mother was doing but she couldn't bring herself to get rid of anything belonging to Draco, even food.

"After I've finished in the kitchen we can start on another room." Helen said, closing the cupboard she had just sorted.

"No." Hermione said quickly. Throwing away food she wouldn't eat was one thing but Hermione wasn't ready to part with anything else.

"It's okay we can wait." Helen said gently. "But you will have to sort things Hermione, you can't just carry on as though nothing's happened."

"I know, I'm just not ready yet." Hermione said.

As her mother opened another cupboard Hermione left her to it and headed into the front room. Ron and Harry were sitting with the television on quietly when Hermione entered the room and sat down next to Ron.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked.

Hermione nodded and curled up in the corner of the sofa. Harry and Ron looked at Hermione for a few minutes before they continued their conversation. Over the last week they had found that Hermione found it comforting to be around her friends, even if she wasn't taking part in the conversation.

For nearly fifteen minutes Hermione sat curled up listening to Harry and Ron before her mother entered the room. Hermione's mother had a box of food in her arms and her coat and bag were slung over her arm.

"I'm off now. I'll see you tomorrow, sweetheart." Helen said, pecking Hermione on the cheek.

"Will you bring dad with you tomorrow, please?" Hermione asked. She had decided it was time to tell her parents about the baby.

"Of course." Helen agreed, wondering if there was something particular Hermione wanted to discuss with her father. "Bye boys." She called as she headed for the front door.

After Helen had left Harry stood up and picked up his own jacket. "I should be off as well." He was eager to visit Charlie to discuss his theories on Draco's accident.

"Can you stay for a minute, Harry." Hermione said, sitting up and moving into the middle of the sofa. "There's something I want to tell you."

Harry immediately sat back down. If Hermione wanted to talk he wasn't planning on leaving. Harry and Ron both looked at Hermione, wondering what she wanted to discuss. In the past week she had barely uttered more than a few words but now it looked like she was finally ready to talk.

"I'm pregnant." Hermione decided to just go straight ahead with what she wanted to say.

"That's great Hermione." Ron said with a smile.

"Yeah, it's brilliant." Harry added.

"It would be better if the baby had a father though." Hermione said sadly.

"I know it's not the same Hermione, but we'll all be here for you and the baby." Ron said, hugging Hermione.

Harry moved so he was sitting on the other side of Hermione on the sofa. "And we'll make sure the baby knows all about Draco." He said, hugging Hermione from the other side.

"Yeah, we can tell them about the time he was turned into a ferret, that was pretty funny." Ron said.

Hermione smiled softly. The ferret incident was something most of the Weasley family enjoyed teasing Draco about. Despite being touchy about it at first Draco had eventually come to see the funny side of the story and would then often laugh along with people when they mentioned it.

"Thank you. It means a lot that you're supporting me." Hermione said.

"We'll always support you Hermione." Ron said. "We love you."

Hermione, Harry and Ron sat in silence for several minutes. Eventually Harry got up again and picked up his jacket.

"I'm sorry, Hermione but I really have to go." Harry said. "I'll see you tomorrow after work."

"You don't have to come round Harry." Hermione said, hugging Harry.

"I know, I want to." Harry insisted, before he headed into the fireplace and flooed home.

"Do you want me to go as well?" Ron asked, wondering if Hermione wanted to be alone.

"Not really." Hermione shrugged. "But I'll understand if you have to leave, you do have a life of your own."

"I can stay. It's not as if I've got anywhere special to be." Ron said. Ron was single and lived in a small flat over the twins shop in Hogsmeade, which was where he worked as manager.

"Thanks Ron." Hermione said. "I don't really fancy being alone today."

"Do you want to watch a film?" Ron suggested, knowing Hermione probably wouldn't want to talk too much.

"Sure. I think there's some ice-cream in the freezer if you want any." Hermione said, smiling as Ron's eyes lit up at the mention of ice-cream. "I'm just going to change."

Ron rushed into the kitchen in search of ice-cream while Hermione headed into her room to get changed. After stripping off her formal clothes and getting washed Hermione looked for something more comfortable. Hermione pulled on a pair of black pyjama pants and was going to pull on the matching top when she spotted a dark blue sweatshirt belonging to Draco. Hermione picked up the top and held it for several minutes before she pulled it on. Pulling it over her head Hermione could smell Draco's familiar scent over the material and she instantly felt more at ease.

Over the past week Hermione had taken to sleeping in Draco's tops as it helped her to drop off but she had never worn anything of Draco's in front of anyone else. Hermione was aware that her mother and Molly thought she wasn't dealing with what had happened and she was sure if they saw what she wore to bed they would be even more convinced that she wasn't coping. Hermione however was confident that Ron wouldn't say anything about her choice of clothing, he had actually been watching what he said really carefully so that he didn't accidentally upset her any further.

Hermione left her bedroom and re-entered the front room where Ron already had the film set up and was munching on a tub of ice-cream. Hermione and Harry had taught Ron how to use the television and after taking a while to master the muggle technology the redhead had become a big television addict. While Ron was explaining about the film he had chosen Hermione curled up in the corner of the sofa. Ron had picked a James Bond film which were his favourite films.

Bond films were also Draco's favourite films and Ron and Draco had bonded over their love of 007 films. Despite the fact both men liked the film franchise they had still managed to indulge in petty bickering and had spent hours arguing over who was the best Bond, which car was the best and numerous other stuff involving the films.

"Do you want some ice-cream?" Ron asked, starting the film.

"No. You eat it." Hermione said. Growing up with two dentists as parents meant that Hermione wasn't big on sweet things.

Ron did as Hermione said and devoured the tub of ice-cream, eating it all within half an hour.

After the film Ron suggested another one but Hermione was tired so declined her friends offer. Ron removed the DVD and turned off the television before he grabbed his jacket.

"Call me if you need anything." Ron said, hugging Hermione. "Even if it's the middle of the night."

"I'm sure that won't be necessary, but thank you." Hermione said.

Ron smiled and after checking that Hermione really was fine he flooed home. After Ron's departure Hermione locked the floo network and secured the wards around the penthouse. Satisfied her home was secure Hermione went into her bedroom where she flopped straight into bed.

Hermione curled up on her side of the bed and pulled Draco's pillow into her arms. Hermione was disappointed to find his scent was wearing off the pillow and she realised that in a few days she wouldn't be able to smell him in their bed at all. Lying with her head buried in Draco's pillow Hermione finally broke down as the events of the day hit her.

Hermione lay crying for several hours before she was eventually cried out. Rolling over onto her back Hermione placed her hands on her stomach as she thought about the new life she was carrying inside her. Hermione was still coming to terms with the news and hadn't even had time to see a healer and get herself checked over. Hermione made a mental note to make an appointment with the healer over the next few days.

Trying to distract herself from thinking about Draco, Hermione started to think about what she would need for the baby. Unfortunately every time she thought of something new she couldn't help but wonder about Draco's reaction to the baby. Would he have been happy about the baby? Would he have wanted to move to somewhere with a garden? Would he have wanted more than one child?

Hermione and Draco had only spoken about children briefly and had agreed to wait until they were married before starting a family. As such Hermione had no idea whether Draco had wanted a big family or whether one child would have been sufficient. One thing Hermione did know was that Draco wanted to be a better father to his children than Lucius had ever been to him.

Draco had rarely spoken about his father but Hermione knew that their relationship wasn't easy and had been suffering for a long time before the war. Hermione knew that Draco often felt like a disappointment to his father and Lucius hadn't been shy in telling Draco how much he had failed him. Even after his imprisonment in Azkaban Lucius tried to show his disappointment in Draco. After finding out about Draco's relationship with Hermione Lucius had tried to disown his son but instead had found that Draco had already inherited everything after Lucius' trial, in which the Death Eater was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Hermione knew that Draco would have been a much better father than Lucius, in fact he would have been a great father. For one thing he would actually tell his child that he loved them. Because of his screwed up relationship with his father it had taken Draco a long time before he was able to tell Hermione that he loved her but once he had done it the first time it got easier and he used to make sure to let Hermione know just how much she meant to him on a regular basis. Hermione knew that Draco would have been the same way with their child and that they would have grown up knowing without a doubt that their father loved them.

Hermione planned on making sure their child knew that Draco would have loved them but she knew that it wouldn't be the same. Hermione knew that lots of things wouldn't be the same without Draco. While people could tell the child stories about Draco it wasn't the same as actually knowing their father and experiencing things first hand.

Hermione lay awake for hours thinking about Draco and the life they should have had together. She didn't think it was fair for them both to suffer through so much in the war only to have their happiness ripped away from them less than five years later.

* * *

**A/N - I would just like to answer a few reviewer questions. SerpentofDarkness wanted to know why the Slytherins have acted now when Hermione and Draco have been together for so long - hopefully everything you want to know is explained in the next chapter. Deedlez01 wanted to know how long the story is going to be - I'm not really sure yet but it won't be that long as I don't want it to drag.**


	5. Chapter 5

Four figures sat silently in the dingy room until the crack of apparition broke the silence. Slowly the door to the room opened and a figure entered the room.

"I hope you've sorted Daphne." Blaise greeted as Theo entered the room.

"I have." Theo nodded.

"You better have, if she talks we'll all end up in Azkaban." Pansy snapped.

"She won't talk." Theo insisted. "She was just upset."

"If she's so upset why have you left her?" Blaise asked. "She could do something stupid."

"She won't, I gave her a sleeping draught before I left." Theo admitted. He felt guilty for drugging his fiancé but knew it was the only way he would have been able to leave her and be sure that she wouldn't tell someone something she shouldn't.

"Good, at least we don't have Daphne to worry about." Pansy said. "Things are going perfectly and we don't need anyone losing their bottle."

"No-one's losing their bottle." Blaise said. "Especially now the real fun's about to begin." He added with a grin.

Pansy grinned back at her husband before she turned to Goyle. "Did you get what I asked for?"

"Yes." Goyle replied, handing Pansy a couple of newspapers.

"Did you get tomorrow's paper?" Pansy asked, turning to Crabbe.

"Of course." Crabbe said as he gave Pansy a crisp edition of the following days Daily Prophet.

"It's time." Pansy smiled, walking over to the doorway. "Wish me luck."

The men all laughed as Pansy left the room to implement the next part of their plan.

* * *

Pansy stood outside the heavily warded room and adjusted the wards slightly. Satisfied she would be safe once she entered the room Pansy unlocked the door and pushed it open. Pansy stepped into the room but made sure to keep the door open behind her back. As soon as she stepped foot in the room Pansy was enthusiastically greeted by the occupant of the room.

"Pans, thank god you're here. I have no idea what's going on but we have to get out of here."

Pansy laughed loudly. "I'm not here to save you, Draco."

A dishevelled and confused Draco Malfoy looked at Pansy, trying to understand what was going on. Pansy carried on laughing as she saw realisation dawn her friends face. Pansy stopped laughing and smirked as Draco rushed towards her, only to be thrown back by the protective wards she had erected around the door.

"You're part of this." Draco said, still lying on the floor from the impact of clashing with the wards surrounding Pansy. Even though a small part of him had been wondering if his friends were involved in what had happened to him Draco had never once considered that Pansy would be involved.

"I'm not just part of it, I'm the brains behind it." Pansy bragged. "The boys are merely providing the muscle."

"I don't understand. Why have you kidnapped me?" Draco asked, getting to his feet. "Surely you don't need the money."

"We don't want your money, Draco." Pansy sneered. "This is payback, pure and simple."

"Payback for what?" Draco asked bemused.

"Payback for abandoning the dark. You were one of us, you were just as angry as us after the war, you vowed revenge. But then you returned to school and the mudblood got to you." Pansy explained with a smirk.

"Don't call her that." Draco snarled.

"Why not, that's what she is." Pansy smirked at Draco's anger. "You used to think so as well."

"That was a long time ago, I grew up." Draco said, ashamed that he had once used the slur against the woman who was now the most important person in his life.

"Yeah you grew up and abandoned everything you had been brought up to believe in." Pansy snarled.

"Why now?" Draco asked, suddenly changing the subject.

"What?" Pansy asked, confused.

"Why have you kidnapped me now? I changed my opinions years ago." It had been years since Draco had abandoned the teachings of his father and he was wondering why Pansy was only acting now.

"We honestly thought you would come to your senses, that the mudblood was just a phase. But then you proposed to her, you were willing to sully the Malfoy family line. That's when we realised something had to be done." Pansy said.

"I proposed six months ago. Why wait so long?"

"We needed to plan and to make sure everything was perfect." Pansy said. "And it is perfect."

"You still haven't told me what you hope to achieve if you don't want money." Draco said. "Do you even have a long term plan?"

"Yes the long term plan is to watch you and your mudblood suffer." Pansy said. "Here you can see what a good start we've made." She said, throwing the papers onto the single bed that was placed in the room.

As Draco rushed over to the bed Pansy left the room, locking and warding it behind her. Draco looked towards the closed door but he knew from experience that the door was protected by numerous ward's and that he couldn't open it without magic. Draco didn't have his wand anymore and he was sure that the room had some sort of anti-magic ward around it because he couldn't even do simple wand less magic, something that he was normally quite adept at.

Draco turned back to the stack of papers that Pansy had thrown on the bed, wondering what his so-called friends had been up to within the last few days. Draco gasped as he read the headline on the first paper he picked up, 'Malfoy Heir killed in tragic accident.' Draco read the story which described how he had supposedly fallen to his death while rock climbing with his friends.

Draco read several more articles about his death, getting more upset at each one. The parts of the articles that focused on how devastated Hermione and Narcissa were after his death were proving the hardest for Draco to read. Draco picked up the neat paper which looked as though it had never been touched. After brushing over the headline that announced his funeral had taken place Draco's attention focused on the large picture that accompanied the article. The picture was of Hermione and Narcissa and it killed Draco to see how devastated his mother and fiancé were.

As Draco looked at the papers he began to realise part of his friends plan. Obviously they were torturing him and Hermione. Hermione believed Draco was dead while he would be shown how much she was suffering. Draco wondered if part of his torture would be to see Hermione move on with her life after she had accepted that he wasn't coming back. The thought of Hermione moving on hurt Draco deeply and he vowed to himself that he would find a way to escape and return to his fiancé.

Draco had no idea how he would actually escape as he had thoroughly explored the small room and attached bathroom when he had first woken up in the strange place. The small bed was the only piece of furniture in the room and the bathroom had the basic facilities and nothing else. The window provided no clues as to his whereabouts as it was charmed to show a standard blue sky with a sun that rose every morning and set every night.

Putting aside his plans to escape Draco thought about what else he had learnt from Pansy's visit. For the last few days Draco had been trying to work out what had happened to him. He had also been wondering whether his friends were in a similar situation to his own but obviously he now knew for certain that it had been his friends that were responsible for his current situation.

The last thing Draco remembered about his weekend with the boys was standing in the mountains looking at the stunning view. The next thing Draco knew he was waking up, trapped in this tiny room. Draco had soon discovered his wand was missing and that he couldn't perform magic inside the room. He also discovered that there was nothing in the room to help tell him where he was or what was happening to him.

Draco was alone in the room for hours before a house elf he didn't recognise had appeared. Draco tried to ask the elf questions but the elf refused to answer, obviously it had been ordered not to speak to Draco. The elf had left food and drink for Draco and had since been appearing a couple of times a day with nourishment. Draco still hadn't gotten the elf to talk and had all but given up hope of getting an answer when he asked a question to the creature.

Draco gathered up the papers Pansy had left as he tried to come to terms with what his friends had done to him. Despite everything Pansy had said to him Draco was still struggling to accept that the friends he had known since he was eleven would do such a terrible thing to him. He knew things had changed after the war but he honestly thought his friends had accepted everything, but clearly they hadn't.

Draco thought about Pansy's rant about what he was like after the war. She was right, after the war he had been bitter and angry and had spoken about revenge with his friends but he had never really meant it and he never really believed his friends did either. Draco could clearly remember the handful of conversations that had taken place when he was still angry.

All the conversations like that with his friends had taken place in the few weeks directly following the war. Lucius had been immediately sent to Azkaban to await his trial while Draco and his mother were on house arrest. The family lawyer had told Draco and Narcissa that Lucius would definitely get life imprisonment and that Draco would also get some sort of custodial sentence. Draco had been terrified at the thought of being sent to Azkaban but he had put on a brave face to his friends and vowed to carry on with the dark arts. Draco had never really intended to have anything to do with the dark arts but obviously his friends had thought different.

Draco was now wondering if he should have made his position on the dark arts clearer to his friends after the war. After the first few weeks, when he had been scared and angry, Draco had made sure never to participate in any conversation regarding dark magic. He had actually gone out of his way to avoid such talk after his trial and the second chance he had been given.

Draco had been terrified at the start of his trial as his lawyer was adamant that he would end up in Azkaban. Surprisingly though three unexpected people spoke up for Draco. First was Harry, who explained that he had witnessed Dumbledore's death and in his opinion Draco would never have killed the headmaster. Next was Hermione who testified that he hadn't revealed the trio's identities when they were captured and taken to the Manor, despite clearly knowing who they were. The last witness was the key to his freedom in Draco's opinion. The last witness was a memory version of Dumbledore that he had left with Kingsley Shackelbolt in case Draco should ever find himself facing charges over his death. Memory Dumbledore spoke passionately about believing that Draco was a good person and if given the chance he could turn his life around. The word of the brilliant dead wizard was enough for the Wizengamot to spare Draco from going to Azkaban and he was released with several conditions.

The most important of those conditions was that Draco return to school and re-take his final year and prove to people he had changed. Draco had been thrilled with the opportunity but to keep face with his friends he had moaned about having to return to school when they wouldn't be with him. Draco was now realising that his friends still believed he was a follower of the dark arts when he returned to school. If he had told them how he really felt before he left they never could have blamed Hermione for changing his opinion as they would have realised that he had done that for himself.

In hindsight Draco could see dozens of mistakes he had made with his friends but at the time he hadn't realised just how serious they were about keeping the old ways alive. Draco knew that like him they had all been raised to believe that pure bloods were superior and muggleborns were a stain on the wizarding world. Despite this none of them had really been heavily involved in the war and none had taken the Dark Mark. Draco had actually been under the impression that his friends were relieved not to have been called on by Voldemort to serve him.

Draco knew that his friends had struggled to accept Hermione as his girlfriend at first. He had thought that once they realised he was serious about the Gryffindor that they had tried to make more of an effort with her. Draco now knew that everything they had said in regards to accepting Hermione had been a lie and they had just been humouring him thinking he would eventually come to his senses.

Draco was angry with himself for not spotting their fake-ness earlier. He had genuinely believed that they were his friends and that they cared about him. Draco was mad that he had been blind and now he was trapped in a dingy room and the whole world thought he was dead. More importantly Hermione thought he was dead, and from the looks of the pictures in the papers she was taking it extremely hard.

Draco looked once again at the picture of Hermione and his mother at his funeral. Running his finger over Hermione's face he vowed he would return to her. No matter what it took Draco was planning on escaping from the hell he was in and returning to the woman he loved.


	6. Chapter 6

**Six Months Later.**

The sun was shining brightly over the immaculate gardens of Malfoy Manor where a small group of people were gathered. Narcissa had organised the gathering as a tribute to Draco's birthday. Apart from Narcissa no-one else was sure about celebrating Draco's birthday but no-one wanted to upset the still grieving witch so they all showed up at the Manor.

Harry spent the majority of the afternoon glaring at Draco's supposed friends. Harry felt his fury bubbling up further any time they went near to Hermione, which was happening too much for his liking.

In the last six months Harry had tried hard to prove his theory about Draco's death was right, unfortunately he had had no luck in proving the Slytherin's were involved in Draco's accident. Harry had returned to the hotel where Draco was staying the weekend of the accident and spoke with the staff, he discovered that the group of Slytherins had visited the hotel a couple of times previously and no-one noticed anything odd about the group that particular weekend. Harry also visited the mountain where Draco had his accident to investigate if he could find anything suspicious. Unfortunately it had been days since the accident and there had been too much magical activity in the area, from the rescue attempt, that Harry couldn't determine any foul play on the part of the Slytherins. Harry had also investigated the nature of Draco's accident, he found that while it was a rare occurrence for the climbing rope to break, it did occasionally happen.

Harry had originally suspected that Daphne was the weak link but when he tried to speak to her a few days after Draco's funeral he found that her and Theo had gone away for a few days. When they returned almost a fortnight later Harry did manage to speak to Daphne alone but the witch seemed genuinely upset about Draco's death and Harry wasn't as sure that she was involved anymore.

"It's time to give up, Harry." Fred said, slipping into the seat next to Harry.

"You've been looking for six months and found no evidence that they were involved in Draco's death." George added, slipping into the seat on the other side of Harry.

Along with Charlie the twins had helped Harry in his investigation into Draco's friends. All three of the Weasley's had been sceptical of Harry's theory but they had supported him in case he was right and Draco had been murdered.

"I know." Harry sighed, running his hand through his hair. "I still think they planned it though."

"Unless you're going to get one of them to confess, you can't prove it." George said.

"I know." Harry sighed a second time. As much as Harry hated to admit it he thought it might have been time to let it go and concentrate on helping Hermione.

Along with Ron, Harry had spent lots of time with his best friend but he didn't think she was coping very well. To an outsider she might look strong as she appeared to carry on for the sake of the baby she was carrying but Harry and Ron knew better. Hermione was barely eating and both Harry and Ron were concerned that she hadn't really accepted the fact that Draco was dead.

"I'm going to check on Hermione." Harry told the twins as he stood up.

The twins nodded as Harry left them and headed over to the table where Hermione was sitting with Ron. Fred and George were worried that Harry had latched onto his theory about Draco's friends as a way of dealing with his own grief. The twins knew that Harry actually missed Draco a lot, he had been pretty close to the Slytherin and they knew that their friendship was a solid one.

"Hi." Harry greeted Hermione with a peck on the cheek. "How's my goddaughter?" When Hermione had discovered that she was having a girl she had asked both Harry and Ron to be godfather's to the baby.

"Kicking like crazy." Hermione replied, grabbing Harry's hand and placing it on her stomach. "Feel."

"Wow, she's active today." Harry said, pulling his hand back.

"I know, I wish she'd settle down." Hermione said, taking a sip from her glass of water.

"How's the name hunting going? Are you having any luck?" Harry asked. Hermione was currently trying to decide on names for the baby but she was being extremely picky.

"No, nothing sounds right." Hermione sighed.

"Didn't Narcissa suggest looking into constellation and star names?" Ron asked, wondering if he had remembered the conversation correctly.

"Yes, she really likes the idea of keeping her family tradition alive." Hermione said.

"Do you like the idea?" Harry asked. The old Hermione would have solid opinions on things like this but since Draco's death she hadn't really had a strong opinion of her own, instead she merely went along with what other people suggested.

"I think so." Hermione said. "There's some beautiful names I can use."

"Like what?" Ron asked. "Tell us, Harry and I will offer our opinions."

Harry and Ron shared a secret smile as Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron before launching into a detailed explanation about various names. Both Harry and Ron had tried hard over the past few months to get Hermione engaged in something and it looked like researching baby names had finally brought back the passion that they loved about Hermione.

* * *

Ginny Weasley sat glaring at Harry, Ron and Hermione. For as long as Ginny remembered she had been jealous of the close friendship shared by the trio. Although if she was honest with herself it was more the friendship between Harry and Hermione that bothered her. When she was younger Ginny often wondered why Harry would rather spend time with Hermione when she herself was practically throwing herself at him.

Ginny actually liked Hermione, she just didn't like the bond she shared with Harry. It was different when Draco was alive as Ginny knew that as long as Hermione was in love with the handsome blond she wouldn't look twice at Harry but things were different now that Hermione was alone again.

Hermione had always said that Harry and Ron were like her brothers but Ginny was worried that now she would be all alone with a baby to look after that she would look to them for support. It wouldn't be too bad if Hermione turned her attentions to Ron but Ginny was terrified in case she targeted Harry instead. It had never occurred to Ginny that Hermione was still grieving for Draco and that she was nowhere near ready to move on with her life.

Ginny continued to glare at the trio as they talked together. Ginny had actually been surprised when Hermione's relationship with Draco didn't deter the trio's friendship. It was no secret that neither Harry or Ron had gotten on with Draco in school but they both surprised Ginny by trusting Hermione's judgement and accepting Draco. Obviously their friendship was stronger than Ginny had realised.

Ginny watched with narrowed eyes as Ron stood up and left Hermione and Harry alone. When Harry once again reached out and caressed Hermione's baby bump Ginny saw red and stormed over to the couple.

"Hi Gin." Hermione smiled at the redhead as she approached.

Harry on the other hand immediately recognised the jealous look on Ginny's face so he hurriedly removed his hand from Hermione's stomach and stood up hoping to avoid an explosion from his girlfriend.

"Hi Ginny. Are you ready to go home? I know you've got a big match tomorrow." Harry said everything at a fast pace as he wanted to get Ginny away from Hermione in case she said something inappropriate to his friend.

"I'm not going anywhere with you." Ginny hissed. "Can't you at least be subtle when you flirt with other women."

"Ginny I wasn't flirting, Hermione's my friend." Harry said, trying to calm Ginny down as people were starting to stare.

"You had your hands all over her." Ginny shouted.

"Gin, he was feeling the baby kick." Hermione said, shocked by Ginny's accusations.

"Once is feeling the baby kick, more than once is feeling you up." Ginny snapped at Hermione.

"There's no need to snap at Hermione, she hasn't done anything." Harry said, getting annoyed with Ginny's attitude.

"Not done anything?" Ginny screamed louder. "She's trying to steal my man."

"I am not trying to steal Harry." Hermione said, pushing herself out of her chair. "We're just friends."

"A likely story." Ginny scoffed. "I knew I should never have trusted you with my man."

"Ginny, stop it." Harry said, grabbing Ginny's arm.

"Get off me." Ginny wrenched her arm from Harry's firm grip. "I never should have trusted you either, you lying, cheating scumbag."

"Take that back, Ginny. I'm not a cheat." Harry said, appalled by the scene Ginny was creating.

"No, I'm going home." Ginny announced, glaring at Harry. "Are you coming?" She snapped at her boyfriend.

"Not unless you take back what you said." Harry said, glaring back at his girlfriend.

"No." Ginny shook her head. "If you're not home in ten minutes, don't bother coming back at all."

Ginny glared at Harry one final time before she stalked away, heading to the front gates so she could apparate home.

The assembled guests stared in shock as Ginny left a stunned and embarrassed Harry standing in the middle of the lawn. Slowly everyone turned back to their own conversations, although they quickly changed the subject to discuss Ginny's sensational accusations.

Harry himself turned back to face Hermione, totally embarrassed by what had just happened. "I'm so sorry, Hermione." He said.

"It's not your fault Harry." Hermione said, sitting back down in her seat. "Is she often like that?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Harry sighed, sitting down next to his friend. "Although she's normally more refrained in public."

"You mean she waits until you get home before she accuses you of cheating." Hermione said, beginning to understand the problems in Harry and Ginny's relationship. "Are you going to go after her?"

"No." Harry shook her head. "I haven't done anything wrong so I'm going to stay here to support my best friend."

Hermione smiled softly, as Harry changed the subject and they fell back into their normal easy conversation.

* * *

Fred Weasley cursed softly as he turned into yet another corridor and saw no sign of the exit. Fred had entered the Manor to find a bathroom and he was now lost. He had followed Hermione's directions to get to the bathroom but by the time he left the room he had totally forgotten which direction he had come from so he had set off in the direction that looked vaguely familiar. Fred had obviously headed in the wrong direction as nearly ten minutes later he was still lost and now he couldn't even find his way back to the bathroom.

Fred paused to try to get his bearings and suddenly he heard the soft murmur of voices. Following the noise he found himself standing outside a room with a partially open doorway. Being nosey he paused to listen to the conversation before he approached and asked for directions.

"It was hilarious, Potter's face was a picture." A shrill voice said. Fred immediately recognised the voice as belonging to Pansy Zabini.

Fred rolled his eyes, clearly Pansy was just revelling in the embarrassing scene his little sister had caused. Fred was just about to push open the door when the voice of Blaise Zabini stopped him in his tracks.

"The mudbloods was just as funny, she looked totally stunned by the accusations."

Fred had to slap his hand over his mouth not to gasp as Blaise insulted Hermione. Harry was definitely right about one thing, the group of Slytherins hadn't really accepted Hermione.

"So you don't think there's any truth in it then?" Pansy asked, sounding disappointed.

"Nah." Blaise said. "But it doesn't mean we can't use it. The Weaselette has given us something we can use."

As Pansy laughed at what her husband had just said, Fred stood outside the door with a puzzled look on his face.

"Poor Draco." Pansy said, still laughing. "He's only been dead six months and already his fiancé is moving on."

Fred was puzzling over Pansy's strange emphasis on the word dead when Blaise spoke again.

"He'll be so devastated. I can't wait to see the look on his face when he finds out Granger is moving on and forgetting all about him."

Fred once again slapped his hand over his moth before he tiptoed away from the doorway, leaving the laughing couple alone. Fred darted into a room along the corridor as he digested what he had just heard. Unless he was very much mistaken Pansy and Blaise had just inferred that Draco was actually alive. Harry was clearly on the right track with suspecting the Slytherins involvement, only instead of killing Draco it seemed like they'd faked his death for whatever reason.

Fred rushed out of the room he was in, eager to tell Harry and his brother's what he had found out. After nearly another ten minutes of stumbling around the large house Fred emerged from the Manor and rushed off to find Harry and his brothers. If he had understood things correctly they needed to rescue Draco from the clutches of a bunch of crazy Slytherins before they decided to kill him properly this time.


	7. Chapter 7

"I can't believe Ginny did that." Ron said for the thousandth time since the incident at the Manor. "She was well out of order."

"Forget about it Ron, I have." Hermione replied, locking the floo network in the penthouse behind them.

"Mum will be furious when she hears about it." Ron said, flopping down on Hermione's large sofa.

"Why does Molly have to find out?" Hermione questioned.

"As if Fred and George will keep this a secret." Ron said with a laugh. "That was probably where they were disappearing off to so quickly."

Hermione nodded, knowing Ron was right. There was no way the twins were not going to gossip about what Ginny had done. Hermione was just going to settle down on the sofa next to Ron when a voice from the doorway startled her.

"I thought I heard voices." Hermione's mother, Helen, said. "How was the afternoon?"

"Eventful." Ron grinned.

"What happened?" Helen asked, always eager for gossip.

"Is dad still in the nursery?" Hermione asked, not wanting to partake in the gossip.

"Yes, he's nearly finished." Helen said, brushing her daughter off as she settled down next to Ron.

As Ron started to tell Helen about what had happened at the Manor, Hermione headed towards the spare room that was currently being decorated as a nursery. Hermione's father, David, was doing the decorating and Hermione had been banned from the room until he had finished.

"Dad can I come in?" Hermione asked as she knocked on the door.

"Two minutes." Her father's voice answered back.

Hermione stood waiting for a couple of minutes before her father opened the door slightly and squeezed out of the room. Hermione raised her eyebrow in question as she had expected her father to allow her to walk straight in.

"It's a surprise." David chuckled at his daughter as he moved behind her and covered her eyes with his hands. "I want you to get the full effect." He explained as he walked Hermione into the room.

Once they were in the room and the door was shut behind them David removed his hands so Hermione could see the room. When Hermione's father removed his hands from her eyes she blinked a few times before her eyes focused on the room in front of her. Hermione gasped and spun round as she took in the elaborately decorated room.

Instead of the four walls being painted one colour the room was decorated with a fairy-tale princess mural. The base of the walls were decorated green and designed to look like grass while the top of the walls were blue with fluffy white clouds dotted around the room. There was a large castle on one wall while on another was a unicorn drinking from a stream. There were also several animals frolicking among the grass and a toadstool ring with several fairies flying about near it.

"Do you like it?" David asked.

"It's amazing, I love it." Hermione said, hugging her father. She'd always known that her father had a passion for art but she had no idea that he was so skilled himself.

As Hermione was hugging her father she spotted a part of the mural she hadn't seen as her father had been standing in the way. Hermione let go of her father and walked over to the princess and prince that her father had painted on the wall near to the castle. David bit his lip anxiously as Hermione examined the part of the picture he was most nervous about.

"I can change it if you want." David offered, wondering if he had made a mistake.

"No, it's perfect." Hermione said, fighting the urge to caress the wall or more specifically the face of the prince.

Hermione stared at the fairy-tale couple on the wall. The princess was wearing a long purple dress and had long curly, brown hair and brown eyes. The prince however was what Hermione was really interested in. The outfit reminded Hermione of a Disney prince but it was the features that were really compelling to her. With the prince's pale blond hair and piercing grey eyes it was obvious that Hermione's father had modelled the prince on Draco. The princess was clearly modelled on her but Hermione was much more interested in the prince.

"Are you sure it's okay?" David asked, still unsure if he had upset Hermione. "If it's too painful I can change it."

"Don't, I love it." Hermione said, turning to face her father. "Everything is perfect, thank you so much."

"You're welcome darling." David hugged Hermione, pleased that she was happy with his decision to commemorate Draco. He had figured it would be nice for his granddaughter to have her father's presence in the room since he couldn't be there for her in reality.

Hermione took one final look around the beautiful room before she left with her father. As they headed to the front room Hermione started to mentally make a list of the furniture she would need for the nursery. She had been putting off buying anything until the room was decorated and she knew what style room she was buying for.

When Hermione entered the front room Ron gave her a hug before he left. Hermione had known Ron couldn't stay long but he had insisted on making sure she got home safely. The only reason he had been in the penthouse as long was that her mother had collared him asking for gossip.

"Ron told me what happened." Helen said once Ron had left.

"It was a misunderstanding. Ginny got hold of the wrong end of the stick." Hermione explained.

"It wouldn't be wrong if you moved on. Although moving on with your best friend who's already taken isn't the best idea." Helen said.

"I'm not moving on." Hermione snapped. "Harry and I are just friends."

"You have to move on one day." Helen insisted.

"One day, not now. Draco's only been gone six months." Hermione said, getting angry with her mother.

"He's not gone, Hermione, he's dead." Helen said. She didn't want to be cruel to her daughter but she felt that Hermione hadn't really accepted that Draco was dead, she had never once said he was dead she always used gone when describing him.

"Do you not think I know that?" Hermione yelled. "Do I not think I realise that when I go to sleep alone very night or when I wake up alone in the morning and remember why the other half of the bed's empty. Or how about when I look around the penthouse and every room has a dozen memories attached to it."

"I don't want to upset you Hermione." Helen said as Hermione started crying softly. "But you're not dealing with this very well."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realise there was a right way to grieve for your fiancé." Hermione said sarcastically.

"I didn't mean that. You can grieve however you want." Helen said. "But I think it's time you finally accepted that Draco isn't coming back."

"I know that." Hermione whispered. She had actually put off dealing with the reality of never seeing Draco again for weeks after the accident but she had finally accepted that he was gone.

"Do you?" Helen asked gently. "You still have all of his belongings packed away in the study and you only stopped wearing your engagement ring because your fingers were swelling with the pregnancy."

"Just because I've kept things doesn't mean I'm not aware of what's happening." Hermione insisted.

Helen opened her mouth to speak again but David stopped her, sensing that if she said much more to Hermione their daughter would react badly.

"Come on, it's time we were leaving." David said to his wife. "Hermione needs to rest, she's had a long day."

Hermione smiled appreciatively at her father as he bundled her mother into her coat and led her to the door.

"I never meant to upset you, Hermione." Helen said as they reached the door.

"I know." Hermione hugged her mother before her father steered her out of the door.

Hermione sighed in relief as the door shut behind her parents. Hermione loved her mother and she knew that she only had her best intentions at heart but she was proving slightly overbearing lately. She had been nagging at her to get rid of Draco's things for a couple of months now but so far Hermione had refused to budge. Hermione knew there was no point in keeping all of Draco's belonging's in the study but she just couldn't bring herself to part with them yet.

As Hermione settled on the sofa she pulled out the silver chain she wore around her neck as her mother's words about the engagement ring ran through her head. On the chain around Hermione's neck were her engagement ring and Draco's signet ring that he had accidently left behind the weekend he had his accident. Hermione had found Draco's ring in the bathroom on the day he had left with his friends, obviously he had forgotten to put it back on before he left the penthouse. Hermione's engagement ring was on the chain because like her mother said her fingers were swollen with pregnancy and she could no longer wear the diamond ring without it cutting into her circulation. Hermione had been planning on putting the ring back on the moment her fingers were back to normal but now her mother was making her doubt the decision.

Hermione tucked the chain back under her top and stood up. She still had a few months before she would be able to wear the ring again and she could make a decision then, until then it was perfectly fine hanging around her neck so it was close to her heart.

Helen's words haunted Hermione as she tidied the front room and headed into the kitchen for a drink. As Hermione drank her glass of water she wondered if her mother was right and she was failing to accept that Draco had gone. Placing her half-drunk glass on the kitchen counter Hermione left the kitchen and headed towards the study.

In all the years they had lived in the penthouse Hermione had rarely entered the study. The room was very much Draco's space and Hermione had respected the fact that sometimes he had needed to be alone. As such Hermione only ever entered the room occasionally so it was the obvious choice of room to store Draco's belongings in. Hermione knew that if she had kept Draco's things in another room that she would be constantly rummaging through them as she tried to hold onto his memory.

Hermione entered the study and stood in the doorway for several seconds as she looked at the room full of boxes. Harry and Ron had helped her with the packing and it had been them who had placed the boxes in the study so Hermione was pleased to find that they had kept things relatively neat. Ignoring the boxes for the time being Hermione wandered over to Draco's desk and sat down in the large black chair behind it.

While Hermione had packed up most of Draco's belonging's around the penthouse she hadn't touched the study so Draco's desk was exactly as he had left it. Hermione smiled at the obsessively tidy desk of her fiancé. Hermione knew that Draco was a neat freak so she hadn't expected anything less from his desk. Hermione ignored the quills and parchment that were neatly arranged on the desk as she reached for the gold picture frame that stood on the corner of his desk. Hermione immediately recognised the photo of herself and Draco, it had been taken in the gardens of the Manor a few weeks after graduation.

Hermione hadn't wanted to visit the Manor after the events of the war but Draco had wanted her to meet Narcissa so she agreed to go back to the place that occasionally haunted her dreams. Hermione had been pleasantly surprised to find that Narcissa had redecorated the entire house and it was now warm and welcoming rather than the foreboding place it had once been. Hermione had immediately fallen in love with the magnificent gardens so she and Draco spent the majority of the afternoon lying outside.

Narcissa had taken the picture after seeing how happy Draco looked. Neither Draco or Hermione had even been aware that Narcissa had taken the picture until she gave it to them before Hermione left. The picture showed Draco and Hermione lying in the grass, Draco was lying on his side tracing his finger down Hermione's face when Hermione opened her eyes and smiled at Draco. Hermione watched the moving picture for quite a while, reliving the memory of being so care free and in love.

Replacing the frame in its place Hermione opened the top drawer in the desk. Spotting several documents from Draco's company Hermione wondered whether anyone would need them but then she figured if they were important surely someone would have asked about them before now.

Draco's company was currently being managed by his second in command while Narcissa and Hermione debated what to do with the business. In Draco's will he had left his shares in the business to Hermione but Narcissa had several shares herself, mostly what she inherited from Lucius after he had received his life sentence in Azkaban. While Hermione had the controlling share she didn't want Narcissa to feel left out so she had asked her opinion. Narcissa wasn't keen on selling the business and she had gotten Hermione to agree to wait until after the baby was born before they made any final decision about the future of the company.

Shutting the top drawer Hermione opened the second drawer. In the drawer she found extra stationary supplies along with a cream folder tucked at the bottom of the drawer. Opening the folder Hermione was surprised to find several cut out newspaper articles. Tipping them onto the desk Hermione found they all had one common theme, Lucius.

Some of the articles dated back to their school days and Hermione wondered how long Draco had been collecting the cuttings for. Sorting the cuttings out Hermione found the first article was dated in October of their first year of Hogwarts. Hermione knew how much Draco had idolised his father at that age so she wasn't that surprised that he would keep press cuttings about him. What did surprise Hermione was that the cuttings went right up to the end of the war, when she knew for a fact that Draco's relationship with Lucius was practically non-existent. There were even several articles that went beyond the war, detailing his arrest and subsequent prison sentence.

Hermione gathered the articles back up and put them in the file before she returned them to the drawer. She had had no idea that Draco kept such a file, clearly he hadn't been as immune to Lucius as he liked to claim to be. Hermione was upset that Draco had never confided in her about the file and his feelings towards his father. It was something she would have loved to have asked him about, but now she would never get the chance.

Shutting the second drawer and shutting away her questions at the same time Hermione opened the last drawer. All the bottom drawer held was an ornately decorated wooden box with her name carved on the top. Very curious as to what the box contained Hermione lifted it onto the desk and opened it to reveal several vials of silvery memories. Hermione lifted the first bottle out of the box, before she even had a chance to wonder what it contained she spotted a neat label with Draco's writing on the side of the bottle. Hermione smiled when she read the label on the bottle - first date. Hermione searched through the remaining bottles and found they were all labelled similarly. Among the bottles she found; first kiss, proposal, first night together, first I love you, first night in penthouse. Hermione also found several larger vials labelled with various destinations around the world that they had visited together.

Hermione couldn't help but cry as she looked at the box full of memories of their relationship. Draco had preserved every one of their special moments and holidays together. Hermione continued to cry as she realised their entire relationship was in the box, they would never have the chance to add to the collection of memories. There should have been thousands more memories to add to the box but now it would remain as it was, incomplete. There would never be a vial marked, wedding or honeymoon. Even the memories Hermione would eventually have of giving birth to their first child wouldn't fit into the box as Draco wouldn't be a part of the happy day.

Still crying Hermione replaced the box in the drawer before she left the study. One day she would view the memories that Draco had collected but for now all Hermione wanted to do was curl up in bed and mourn for the love she had lost.


	8. Chapter 8

Draco stared at his reflection in the grimy bathroom mirror and ran his hand through his hair, sighing loudly at the state of his blond locks. Draco hated the fact that being locked up for six months meant he hadn't been able to cut his hair and it was growing longer with each passing week. Draco kept his hair short for two reasons, first of all it was easier to manage short but most of all he didn't like to highlight the resemblance he had to his father. Draco knew he had inherited a lot of his looks from his father but with longer hair the resemblance was too uncanny for Draco's liking.

Draco tore his attention away from his hair, grateful that he had at least been able to shave regularly. After being stuck in the small room for nearly a month Draco had asked the house elf if he could bring his something to shave with, three days later the elf had brought a muggle shaving kit with him and given it to Draco.

Draco had since found that if he wanted something and he asked the elf that more often than not he would receive it a few days later. Draco was confused as to why his ex-friends were being so accommodating towards him but he wasn't planning on complaining about the fact that they gave him most things he asked for. Unfortunately the main thing Draco wanted, his freedom, was not something that they were willing to give him.

It hadn't taken Draco long to figure out that breaking out of the room would be impossible, it might have been manageable if he could perform some magic but without his magic he was powerless. Draco had then turned his attention to the doorway his captors used when they entered the room. After a few visits Draco had determined that they triggered a protective shield around the doorway before they entered the room and it stayed intact until they left. Draco had tried to physically break through the shield but it was useless, he always ended up on the floor after being thrown backwards. He had even tried sitting behind the door so that when the shield was activated he would be on the other side of it but he soon discovered a problem with that idea, since he never had any idea when someone would be paying him a visit he knew it would just be pot luck if he was sitting in the right place at the right time. After nearly two weeks of randomly spending a few hours every day sitting against the door Draco hit lucky and was in position when the ward was activated, unfortunately the ward flung him across the room when it was activated and he severely twisted his wrist in the fall.

After discovering he wouldn't be able to escape without help Draco turned his attention to his former friends. He tried every way he could think of to get them onside; he tried making them angry enough to accidentally break the wards, he played on their long term friendships to try and gain sympathy, he even asked them outright what it would take to get them to release him. When Pansy informed him that there was nothing he could say or do to get them to release him Draco stopped trying to interact with his former friends, something which seemed to annoy Pansy greatly.

Draco was actually disappointed that the only people who ever visited him were Pansy, Blaise and occasionally Theo. When Draco first hit on the idea of using his former friends to escape he was thinking about Crabbe and Goyle specifically. Draco knew that out of everyone the duo would be the easiest to manipulate into accidently letting him go, which was probably why the others had made sure he never saw either of them. Crabbe and Goyle had always been susceptible to peer pressure and both of them were quite happy to follow orders and do what they were told rather than have to think for themselves. Draco knew this as he had once been the master of getting Crabbe and Goyle to do whatever he wished.

Tearing his thoughts away from his former friends, Draco finished in the bathroom and headed back into the bedroom. From the enchanted window he decided it was early evening as the sunlight was less bright. Draco idly wondered whether he would be getting any visitors, his ex-friends were fairly unpredictable when they visited him but he hadn't seen anyone for several days so he was expecting to see someone soon.

Draco sat down on the bed before he reached under the bed for the stack of newspapers and pictures his former friends brought to torture him with. With every visit he was given newspapers, pictures and magazine articles, all featuring Hermione. Draco had devoured each article for information about his fiancé and carefully studied each picture. Draco had however gotten angry when he realised his captors were in regular contact with Hermione and he was seriously worried about the threat they posed to his fiancé, he was just hoping that Harry's natural distrust of his friends would keep Hermione safe.

Draco's friends had taken pleasure in torturing him as they told him about Hermione's grief over his death. They also enjoyed revealing to Draco that Hermione was expecting a baby, they knew that he would be devastated to be missing out on Hermione's pregnancy.

Draco used the papers and magazine articles to follow Hermione's pregnancy, all the time wishing he was experiencing it with her. Despite the many positive articles that claimed that Hermione was coping well and staying strong for her unborn baby, Draco wasn't convinced she was doing as well as the press liked to make out. Draco could see that despite the growing baby bump Hermione was actually quite skinny. Draco could also spot the sadness in her eyes, despite the brave face she was putting on in public.

Draco spent well over an hour looking at the pictures of Hermione, despite having already memorised them. Eventually he gathered everything back up and slipped then under the bed. While it was comforting to see Hermione, Draco could only look at her picture for so long before the pain of being separated from her became unbearable.

Draco had just lain back down on the bed when he heard the bedroom door being unlocked. Despite his curiosity over what his friends wanted now, Draco remained where he was lying and did his best to ignore the door opening. Draco knew his new found indifference to his former friends was starting to get to Pansy and he was hoping that eventually she would make a mistake and let her guard down as she tried to get a reaction from him.

"Look here, it's the birthday boy." Blaise said as he entered the room with Pansy by his side.

Draco glanced at his former friends but didn't speak. From the newspapers and his own calculations he knew that it was round about his birthday but he hadn't been exactly sure on what the exact date was.

"We have a present for you." Pansy said, desperately wanting to hurt Draco. In the last couple of months he had all but ignored their taunts and Pansy was getting more and more frustrated by his lack of response.

Draco still didn't speak, instead he merely looked at his former friends. Draco knew he wouldn't have to ask what they were talking about as they wouldn't be able to resist telling him whatever it was they had come to tell him.

"First of all we have these." Blaise threw a small pile of photos onto the bed. "And secondly we have big news for you."

Draco kept his gaze on Pansy and Blaise and ignored the pictures for the time being. He knew Hermione would be in the pictures and he was dying to see them but there was no way he was giving his friends the satisfaction of seeing him so eager to view the pictures.

"You'll be pleased to hear that your child will have a father after all." Pansy gloated.

Despite trying to remain unaffected Draco couldn't help the moment of panic he experienced, which he knew would be evident on his face. Pansy and Blaise laughed at him as he got his emotions under control and once again looked at them blankly.

"Nice to see something does affect you after all." Blaise said. "Although you would have to be made of stone not to react to the news that your former enemy would be bringing up your child."

"Harry?" Despite not planning on speaking Draco couldn't help it when Blaise insinuated that Harry was involved with Hermione in some way.

"Yes, Potter will be playing daddy to your little girl." Pansy said. She and Blaise had decided to play up the incident at the Manor to make Draco think Hermione was seriously moving on with her life.

Draco gaped at Pansy, shocked by what she had revealed. While Pansy and Blaise took Draco's reaction to be about Harry he was actually reacting to the fact that Hermione was having a girl. While Draco obviously knew that Hermione was pregnant and he was even pretty sure when the baby had been conceived by the date she was due, he had had no idea what sex the baby was.

"You missed quite the entertaining afternoon. The Weaselette publicly revealed all regarding her idiot boyfriend and your mudblood fiancé." Blaise laughed, playing up the incident for Draco's benefit.

"She was very vocal about her findings." Pansy laughed, joining her husband in the taunting. "She left little doubt about what's been happening between them."

"Who knows, maybe they were even carrying on before your death." Blaise added, scrutinising Draco as he looked for a response to the revelations.

Draco couldn't help the smirk that crept onto his face as his ex-friends shared their big news. Draco had initially been worried that Hermione had moved on but the moment they mentioned Harry he relaxed slightly as he knew that him and Hermione were just friends. The moment they mentioned Ginny however, Draco knew exactly where their information was coming from and just how inaccurate it was.

Harry had confided in Draco about his problems with Ginny and the redheads ridiculous jealousy issues. Draco had often advised Harry to finish with Ginny as he could see no future for them if Ginny couldn't trust Harry. Harry had agreed with Draco on several occasions and confided that Ginny's attitude had destroyed most of the feelings he had for her but he couldn't quite pluck up the courage to dump her. Draco wondered if Ginny's latest outburst had finally given Harry the courage to end his relationship once and for all.

"Why are you smiling?" Pansy demanded, annoyed by Draco's reaction. "This isn't funny. Granger and Potter are having an affair, Harry Potter will be raising your baby. They'll probably not even mention you exist, Potter will just be the baby's father and you'll end up as nothing more than a sperm donor." Pansy had slowly started stepping closer to Draco and only stopped centimetres from the edge of the protective wards surrounding the door.

"If you say so, Pansy." Draco said, laughing at his ex-friends shocked reaction. They'd obviously come to see him with the intention of hurting him some more but instead it had backfired spectacularly.

"We'll keep you informed of their progress." Blaise snapped at Draco before turning to his wife. "Come on Pans, we have dinner reservations." He was worried that his wife would let her disappointment cloud her judgment and accidently break through the protective wards to get closer to Draco.

Pansy let Blaise lead her from the room but she couldn't resist taking one last look at Draco who merely smirked at her and laughed at her disappointment. Pansy snarled at Draco before slamming the door behind her and Blaise as they exited the room.

Draco waited until he was sure his ex-friends had gone for good before he reached for the pile of pictures they had given him. Draco snarled at the pictures of his ex-friends with Hermione and quickly flipped through them until he found some without any of his captors in them. The pictures were clearly taken in the Manor's back garden and Draco was annoyed that his former friends had the audacity to spend time with his mother and fiancé after what they had done.

Draco studied the newest pictures of Hermione for quite a while. From the information Draco had at his disposal he thought that Hermione was due to give birth in six weeks or so and her bump was much larger than the last time he had seen pictures of her. In Draco's opinion Hermione was still too skinny but at least she looked happier in the pictures with Harry and Ron. Draco was pleased that Hermione's friends were clearly supporting her and making sure she was coping okay.

Draco couldn't help but smile as he came across a picture of Harry and Hermione with Harry's hand placed on Hermione's stomach. Draco knew his former friends would have been hoping that he would react badly to the photo and Harry's obvious closeness to Hermione. Admittedly Draco had been jealous of Harry and Ron in the early days of his relationship with Hermione but he had long since accepted the trio were like siblings and that there were no romantic feelings involved in their friendship.

Draco placed the new pictures of Hermione under the bed with his stash and settled back onto the bed. Earlier Draco had noticed how close Pansy had come to breaking the wards and he was hoping that she would visit again soon, hopefully without Blaise in tow. Draco was getting hopeful that if he kept up his indifference act towards Pansy she would crack and accidently break the wards, giving him the opportunity to escape.

Closing his eyes Draco banished thoughts of his former friends and concentrated on Hermione. Reliving his relationship with Hermione was one of the few ways in which Draco kept himself sane. Back at home he had a box full of memories regarding their relationship but luckily Draco actually had quite a good memory and could easily pick a memory to think about. Draco had started making the box of memories early on in his relationship with Hermione. Back then he was convinced that one day Hermione would realise she could do better than an ex Death Eater and leave him. Luckily Hermione seemed happy to stay with him so the box had continued to grow as their relationship flourished.

After a few minutes debating what memory to relive Draco settled on their first date. Draco had taken Hermione into Hogsmeade and after a slightly nervous start to the day it was a huge success and they both ended up enjoying the date immensely. Smiling softly to himself Draco began reliving the memory in his mind.

* * *

**A/N - Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing, I know at times this story can be quite depressing but I promise it will have a happy ending. Several people have been asking about the length of the story, I'm currently writing the last handful of chapters so I think there's going to be about 15/16 chapters. **


	9. Chapter 9

Harry sat in his office, a list of properties in front of him that he was trying to sort out. The list of properties were all owned by Draco's so called friends and Harry was trying to decide which would be the most likely place they were holding Draco.

After discussing things with the twins and Charlie, the four men had decided it was most likely that the group of Slytherins were holding Draco somewhere they could visit regularly and not look suspicious. By that reckoning they decided to check out properties owned by the group as a starting point.

For the last few days Harry had been checking out properties and apparition points and was just making the final few preparations before he was due to meet up with Charlie and the twins in a few minutes. All four men had made excuses to explain their absence over the next few days as they searched for Draco.

Charlie had told his family he was visiting an old friend who was visiting from Romania, the twins said they were attending a top secret business meeting to look into expanding their business while Harry claimed to be embarking on an Auror assignment. Harry actually had no-one to tell of his plans apart from Hermione, his relationship with Ginny was currently in tatters. the redhead had temporarily moved back to her parents' house as Harry had refused to speak with her until she apologised to Hermione for the hurtful things she had said.

Harry had nearly finished with his list of properties and making sure he had pictures of the group of Slytherins, to show around the area so they could work out if anyone had spotted something odd about the group. Harry had just slipped all the information into a folder when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Harry called, getting up and gathering his jacket.

"Hi, Harry. I'm not disturbing you am I?" Hermione asked, entering the office.

"No, but I'm just about to leave." Harry said, wondering why Hermione was in his office.

Harry, Charlie and the twins had decided against telling Hermione about what they had discovered, they didn't want to her to get her hopes up in case they were either wrong or they couldn't find Draco. Harry had confided in Ron about what was happening and the discoveries they had made. Ron had professed his desire to help find Draco but Harry had eventually persuaded him it would be better if there was someone around for Hermione, he didn't like the idea of both him and Ron abandoning Hermione for a few days.

"I can't stay anyway, I just wanted to thank you." Hermione said.

"What for?" Harry asked.

"For asking Kingsley to include me in the new charity project the Ministry's setting up." Hermione said.

Hermione had just attended a meeting with Kingsley where the Minister had asked her to be involved in a new project that helped free house elves adjust to life after their enslavement. Hermione had campaigned for years for house elves to be free and a couple of years after the war a new law was passed that every elf must be given the chance to be free. Some elves had refused the chance but several had accepted the offer and had since taken up offering their services to families for a small wage. In the last year or so there had been a dramatic rise in the number of free house elves and it was now more common for a family to employ an elf rather than own one.

"I thought you might like something to occupy your time now you're on maternity leave from St Mungo's." Harry said. He knew from experience that Hermione hated to be idle and was much happier if she had something to occupy her time with.

"Do you not think preparing for the baby is enough to keep me busy?" Hermione asked.

"I'm pretty sure between your mother, Narcissa and Molly there's not much left to organise." Harry said.

"True. They are all pretty excited." Hermione smiled. "Can you believe that both my mother and Narcissa have made nursery's in their houses?"

"Yes." Harry laughed. The two women were both looking forward to being grandmothers and Harry knew they would both expect to look after the baby on a regular basis. "You should think yourself lucky that Molly hasn't done the same."

"I think that's going a bit far." Hermione laughed. "Although she has made sure to let me know that there's always plenty of space at The Burrow now that everyone's moved out and that she'd be happy to babysit whenever I need a break."

"It sounds like everything's under control." Harry said, picking up his folder and heading towards the doorway.

"It is, although I could have a fight on my hands to actually look after my own daughter." Hermione said, heading out of Harry's office.

Harry followed Hermione from the office and locked it behind them. Together the two friends walked towards the elevators and Harry pressed the button to call the elevator.

"Have you heard from Ginny?" Harry asked as they entered the elevator.

"Why would I have heard from Ginny?" Hermione questioned. Hermione was surprised by Harry's question as her friend knew that Hermione and Ginny weren't particularly close and were only really friends because of Harry and Ron.

"I told her to apologise after what she said at the Manor." Harry explained. "I made it perfectly clear that we wouldn't be able to solve anything in our relationship until she apologised for what happened."

"How did she take that?" Hermione asked, wondering when Harry had delivered his ultimatum to Ginny.

"Not well, she's moved back to The Burrow." Harry said.

"Permanently?"

"Temporarily." Harry shrugged. "Although it will be permanent if she doesn't change. I'm not sure I can deal with her jealously for much longer."

"I hope things work out for you, Harry." Hermione said.

Harry didn't respond as the elevator came to a stop in the atrium, he wasn't sure if things working out meant making up with Ginny or leaving her. Harry and Hermione walked across the atrium before parting at the fireplaces. Hermione pecked Harry on the check before flooing home while Harry headed to the apparition point to head to his meeting with the twins and Charlie.

* * *

"How about we do one more tonight." Harry sighed. After several hours of searching they hadn't really had much luck and the best they had done was decide a few properties could be looked into more thoroughly.

"Why not." Charlie said. "What's next on our list?"

"One of Zabini's properties." Harry said, looking at his list. "It's in Ireland, a wizarding village called Little Shore."

Harry gave the other three the apparition point details and they apparated to Ireland. All four were hoping that they would have better luck and they would finally find evidence to support their theory. None of them knew what they were really looking for as they didn't expect the group to make it obvious that they were holding a man against his will.

Once they arrived in Ireland they gathered round Harry as he located the house they were looking for. Harry looked up the details of the house in his file so they knew where to look.

"The house is a little way out of the village so maybe we'd be best off asking around the village before we head off." Harry said.

"It'll save us the hassle of coming back." Fred shrugged.

"Shall we split up?" Charlie asked.

"What's the point, it's a tiny village." George said. He looked around at the small village in which they had landed on the outskirts of.

"Come on then, let's go." Harry said, leading the way into the village.

The first place they visited was the grocery shop but the woman who was serving proved unhelpful, she couldn't say she had seen any of the Slytherins but she also couldn't say that she hadn't seen them. Because of the lateness of the evening several shops were closed already but they had no luck in the few that were still open.

"I suppose we should try the pub." Charlie said as the exited the last shop.

Harry nodded and the four men walked across the road to the pub. The pub was a nice looking place and seemed friendly enough as Harry and the Weasley's entered. The four went up to the bar and Fred ordered drinks while Harry tried to get information.

"We're looking for some friends of ours and we were wondering if you could help us." Harry said.

"I'll try." The barman said, placing the drinks on the counter. "Are your friends from around here?"

"They're not from here but one of them owns a house nearby, Blaise Zabini." Harry said.

"The names not familiar but I'm better with faces." The barman shrugged.

Harry pulled out the pictures of the Slytherins and laid them on the bar. "That's Blaise." Harry pointed to the picture of Blaise.

"Yeah, I know him." The barman nodded, examining the pictures. "I recognise the other men as well and the woman with the dark hair is familiar as well."

"When did you last see them?" Charlie asked.

"I'm not sure." The barman shrugged. "But they have been coming in a lot more often in the last few months."

"When did they start coming in?" Harry asked, hoping they had finally caught a break.

"I don't know. My wife will be able to tell you more, she's got a good memory."

"Would it be possible to speak with your wife?" Harry asked.

"Sure I'll go and get her." The barman said, walking to the other end of the bar and speaking with a blonde woman.

Within a few minutes the blonde woman approached them with a smile. "Rob says you guys want my help with something."

Harry explained that they were looking for the group of Slytherins and asked if the woman could help with when they had started visiting the pub and how often they visited.

"This man first came in the pub several years ago." The woman said, pointing at the picture of Blaise. "He was often with the dark haired woman. He seems nice enough but she's stuck-up." The woman hesitated as she realised that she might of offended the group as they said they were looking for their friends.

"Sounds like Pansy." Harry said, reassuring the woman she hadn't offended them. "What about the others, when did they appear?"

"About six months ago the couple were accompanied by the other three men, since then the four men are in here a couple of times a month. The couple also come in just the two of them every few weeks."

"When was the last time you saw them?" Charlie asked.

"The couple were here over the weekend. Sunday night, I think." The woman said.

"Thank you, very much. You've been a great help." Harry smiled at the woman.

"It's a pleasure to help." The woman replied. "Do you want anything else?"

"No thanks, we're going to see if our friends are in." Harry said.

Harry, Charlie, Fred and George finished their drinks and after thanking the barman and his wife one final time they left the pub. All the way to the house that Blaise owned the four discussed what they had discovered. They were convinced that the group were holding Draco in the house as the timing of their recent pub visits was too convenient to be a coincidence.

Approaching the house Harry was relieved to discover that it was a regular house and not some massive mansion like some of the other properties that they had looked at over the course of the day. Carefully they walked up to the property, making sure they didn't cross the boundary line in case it triggered some sort of alarm inside the house.

"Do you think it's warded?" Fred asked. "The house looks pretty abandoned."

"We need to check for security wards." Harry said, leading the group into some nearby trees so they couldn't be seen from the house.

"I was convinced we'd see some evidence of their presence." George sighed as Harry set about checking for wards, as an Auror he was an expert in disabling them.

"Maybe we were wrong and they're not keeping Draco here." Fred added.

"I think he is here." Harry said. "There's a lot of security wards surrounding the property and quite a few are recent additions."

"Can you disable them?" Charlie asked.

"Yes, given time." Harry said. "There's a few of them that are going to take several hours and there's even one I'm not sure how to disarm."

"So we're stuck." George said. "Can't we just use force to blast our way in." If Draco was inside the building he wanted to get in and save his friend.

"Yeah I'm sure we can take them, if they're even inside." Fred said, just as eager as his brother to rescue Draco.

"We have to be sly and enter without detection." Harry said. "If we're wrong and they're not holding Draco here then entering with a bang will alert them to our knowledge."

"And then you never know what they'll do to Draco. We might never find him or if we do he could very well be dead." Charlie added.

"Exactly." Harry nodded. "I think we should return tomorrow and I can set about disabling the wards."

"What about the one you were unsure of?" Charlie asked.

"I have the instructions to the ward at home, I'll go and get them so I can study them tonight." Harry said.

"Let's go, then." Fred said.

The group had decided to use Charlie's flat as a base as there was no-one who would enter suddenly and discover that they had lied about their whereabouts. The only person who knew where they were was Ron and it was extremely likely that he would show up over the course of the evening to find out if they had made any progress.

Harry took one last look at the house before he headed back into the village with his friends. He was certain that Draco was in the house and hopefully tomorrow they would be rescuing him and re-uniting him with Hermione.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N - I know people are looking forward to Draco being rescued but this chapter focuses on Hermione. Next chapter will get back to Harry and the Weasley's as the climax of the story approaches. Hopefully people will still enjoy this chapter, there's even some Dramione interaction in it. **

* * *

Hermione stared up at the enchanted ceiling, tracing the constellations she could see up above her in her mind. It was early afternoon and instead of being at the penthouse Hermione had ended up at Malfoy Manor, lying in Draco's childhood bedroom. The reason she had left the penthouse was her mother and the argument they had had earlier in the day.

For the last few weeks Hermione felt that all she had done with her mother was argue. Hermione knew her mother was very opinionated and slightly bossy, she also knew that she herself had inherited the same traits meaning the two women argued quite frequently. Hermione had lost track of the numerous things they had argued over but the mornings fight coupled with a fight from the previous day was enough for Hermione to finally snap and flee the penthouse in search of peace.

The previous afternoon Hermione's mother had unexpectedly shown up at the penthouse and was shocked to find Hermione sitting at the dining room table looking over the papers she had received from Kingsley earlier in the day. That event has led to the two women arguing over Hermione's workload. Helen was adamant that Hermione should be resting now she was on maternity leave but Hermione insisted she was quite fine doing some light charity work for Kingsley. By the time Hermione's mother had left a few hours later there was still some tension between the two women as both refused to back down in their opinions.

Because of their fight the previous day Hermione had been unprepared when her mother had shown up first thing in this morning. Helen had apologised for trying to control Hermione while Hermione admitted that she might have overreacted slightly. When her mother suggested that they go shopping for the baby Hermione agreed as she knew that she needed to make a start buying things. The shopping trip passed relatively smoothly with only a few small disagreements taking place. The argument that had led to Hermione fleeing the penthouse occurred during lunch when Helen had brought up the subject of naming the baby.

After Hermione's mother made her feelings perfectly clear about the choices Hermione had made regarding the baby's name, Hermione had felt the overwhelming need to get away from her mother. Knowing her mother would follow her if she left the penthouse via the front door Hermione decided to use the floo as her mother couldn't use the floo network without someone with magical ability with her. When it came to deciding where to go Hermione found herself with limited choices. Harry was away on Auror duties, Ron was at work and there was a possibility of running into Ginny at the Burrow, Hermione wasn't sure if she was willing to deal with more drama if she ran into the redheaded woman. Hermione really only had one choice left and without hesitations she flooed to Malfoy Manor and Narcissa.

Hermione had always gotten along well with Narcissa and since Draco's death the two women had become even closer. Hermione often felt that Narcissa was the only person who really understood how much she missed Draco as she was missing him just as much.

Upon arrival at the Manor Hermione was informed by Binky, Narcissa's house elf, that Narcissa wasn't in the house. Hermione was surprised because Narcissa had rarely left the Manor in the previous six months. Binky explained that Narcissa was at Draco's grave if Hermione wished to see her immediately. Hermione had only visited Draco's grave a few times and each time was incredibly painful, it only served to remind her that he was never coming back. Not wanting to deal with her grief at seeing the memorial Hermione had told Binky she would wait until Narcissa returned.

Hermione had automatically gravitated to Draco's room as she waited for Narcissa, she knew the older witch would be able to find her easily enough. Both witches received comfort from being in the room that was still heavily dominated by Draco and the handful of belongings that he had left behind when he had moved in with Hermione.

As Hermione lay on the comfortable bed, she remembered the first time she had ever set foot in Draco's room. After they had finished school both of them had returned to their respective homes to live but after a few weeks Draco had convinced Hermione to stay the occasional night at the Manor. Hermione had immediately loved the large, comfortable room and she had instantly felt comfortable in the room. After the first night Hermione spent a couple of nights a week in Draco's room and she soon felt more at home in the Manor that she did at her parent's house.

Hermione was so deep in thought she failed to notice Narcissa enter the bedroom. She only noticed she wasn't alone when Narcissa lay down on the bed next to her.

"Are you alright, Hermione?" Narcissa asked.

"I'm fine." Hermione sighed. "I just had another argument with my mother."

"I'm sure she means well." Narcissa said. She knew that Helen only wanted Hermione to be happy but she also knew that the woman could be slightly heavy handed at times.

"I know, but I wish she wouldn't find fault with everything I do." Hermione said.

"What was the newest argument about?" Narcissa asked.

"The baby." Hermione said, automatically placing her hand on her stomach at the mention of her daughter. "I've decided on a name for her."

"What is it?" Narcissa asked, wondering if Hermione had looked into naming the baby after a constellation or star.

Hermione smiled at the excitement she could hear in Narcissa's voice. "Lyra."

"That's lovely." Narcissa smiled at the name, liking the choice. "Why would calling her Lyra cause an argument with your mother?"

"It's not her first name she objects to, it's her surname." Hermione explained. "I told her that Lyra's surname is going to be Malfoy."

"What's wrong with that?" Narcissa asked, not seeing what Helen's problem was. "She is a Malfoy."

"That's what I said, but my mother's worried that it might be confusing to her when she's older not to have the same surname as me." Hermione said. She could understand her mother's concerns but there was no way she was denying her daughter's heritage as a Malfoy.

"We can explain her surname to her, I'm sure she'll be clever enough to understand." Narcissa said.

"I said that as well." Hermione said, noticing how her reactions had been exactly the same as Narcissa's.

"I'm sure your mother will come around, after all it's your choice what you name your daughter." Narcissa said.

"I'm sure she will, I could just do without the stress of more arguments." Hermione said, sitting up on the large bed.

"Would you like me to speak with her?" Narcissa asked, getting off the bed and walking round to the other side to help Hermione up.

Hermione shook her head. "Hopefully me walking out on her will make her realise how unbearable she's being lately."

"Well just ask if you need any help." Narcissa said, once she had helped Hermione to stand up.

"Thanks, Narcissa." Hermione smiled at the older witch who smiled back warmly.

"Would you like to see the nursery?" Narcissa asked. She had been turning a spare room into a nursery in the hope that Hermione would allow her granddaughter to spend the odd night at the Manor.

"I'd love to." Hermione replied. She knew how hard Narcissa had been working on the nursery and how much preparing for the baby had helped her cope with losing Draco.

Narcissa smiled at Hermione before she led the pregnant witch out of Draco's room and down the corridor to where she had prepared the nursery. After viewing the nursery and spending an hour or so with Narcissa Hermione decided it was time to return home and face her mother.

Upon arrival at the penthouse Hermione was shocked to find it was empty, the only evidence of her mother's presence was a note sitting in the middle of the coffee table. Hermione read the note, which was her mother apologising for her earlier behaviour. Placing the note back onto the table Hermione telephoned her mother to speak to her properly. Hermione spent nearly an hour speaking with her mother before the older woman had to go and run some errands.

After finishing on the phone Hermione headed into Draco's study. Ever since she discovered Draco's box of memories last weekend she had thought about them regularly and she was seriously considering viewing several of them.

Hermione sat down at Draco's desk and pulled out the box of memories. Scanning over them for a memory to view she wondered about certain memories he had kept. While Hermione could see the sense of keeping certain memories, like their first kiss, she was uncertain about why Draco had kept the memory of their first night together or the day they moved into the penthouse. Hermione could vividly remember the day they moved into the penthouse and Draco's idea to christen every room in the place so she was unsure if that memory would contain anything other than them having sex. While both were very happy memories Hermione was unsure whether they would be good memories to view, surely it would be awkward to watch themselves having sex.

Hermione skipped over both memories and looked for something else that she would feel more comfortable with viewing. She spent several minutes toying over various memories but eventually picked the memory of Draco asking her out for the first time.

Once she had sorted the memory Hermione went to the cupboard in which Draco kept his pensieve. Using magic, the pensieve was far too heavy for Hermione to carry in her condition, she placed the pensieve on the desk and emptied the memory into the stone basin.

Very carefully Hermione emerged herself in the memory. The first few times Hermione had used a pensieve she had ended up falling into the memory and landing flat on the floor but she had found that, like Portkey's, the more practice you had the easier it was to make a dignified entry.

Arriving safely in the memory Hermione smiled as she found herself standing in the library at Hogwarts. A quick look around and she found her past self, sitting at her regular table with Draco. By this point in time she had formed a solid friendship with Draco and they had regularly studied together. Hermione moved closer to the table, her entire focus on Draco. Seeing Draco again was a lot more painful than Hermione had anticipated, she had thought she was ready to relive some of the happiest moments of her life but now she was wondering if she had made the right decision as all she could think about was that she had lost him and he was never coming back.

Hermione debated leaving the memory but found she couldn't tear herself away from watching Draco. Hermione continued to watch Draco, surprised by how often he would sneak a glance at her past self. Hermione looked at her past self, she was so absorbed in her homework that she didn't seem to notice that Draco spent more time watching her than doing any work. Hermione was surprised she had been so unobservant towards Draco's behaviour, he wasn't exactly being subtle about his staring.

Hermione watched as Draco abruptly shut his book, causing past Hermione to look up in surprise.

"Are you alright?" Past Hermione asked. "You seem twitchy tonight."

"I'm fine." Draco replied.

Past Hermione shrugged and went back to her homework, once again failing to notice the piercing grey eyes that followed her every move. Hermione watched as Draco sat and openly stared at her past self, occasionally looking as though he was about to speak before he stopped himself and carried on watching the girl opposite him. After years of being in a relationship with Draco Hermione knew that he was building up the courage to say something important, she had witnessed him reacting the same way numerous times over the years. Hermione obviously knew what Draco was building himself up to ask but she was surprised that it was something he had clearly been nervous about, she had always assumed it had been a spur of the moment thing when he had first asked her out when clearly it had been something he had been debating for some time.

Hermione watched for another few minutes before Draco finally plucked up the courage and cleared his throat, gaining past Hermione's attention.

"Hermione, can I ask you a question?" Draco said, looking nervous.

"Sure, you can ask me anything." Past Hermione said with a smile.

Hermione could remember this conversation so well, she could also remember the fact that she was starting to develop feelings for Draco and was constantly wondering if he only saw her as a friend. Hermione could also clearly remember the thrill she had gotten from Draco's next question.

"Will you accompany me to Hogsmeade on Saturday?" Draco asked, a slight blush appearing on his pale complexion.

Past Hermione smiled widely. "Like a date?" She asked.

Hermione remembered the need she had felt to clarify what the invitation actually was, she hadn't wanted to make a fool of herself and think it was a date if Draco had only asked her as a friend.

"Yes, a date." Draco nodded. Hermione noticed how nervous he looked, probably because he hadn't actually received an answer to his question.

"I'd love to." Past Hermione said.

Draco smiled broadly at past Hermione, a smile that still gave Hermione butterflies. Hermione watched for another ten minutes as her past self and Draco arranged their first date. Watching the interaction Hermione could remember the excited feeling that had settled in her stomach when Draco confirmed he was asking her on a date, that feeling had stayed with Hermione all week until it was time to go to Hogsmeade.

As the memory ended with past Hermione and Draco going their separate ways, Hermione found herself back in Draco's study. Hermione replaced the memory in its glass vial and was searching for another memory to view when she heard a knock at the front door.

Hermione headed for the door and opened it, stopping in shock as she found Ron standing on her doorstep. She had totally forgotten that she had invited Ron for dinner and that she had promised to cook for him. Events of the afternoon had distracted Hermione and time had totally gotten away from her.

"Am I coming in or are you just going to stare at me all night?" Ron questioned.

"Sorry Ron, come in." Hermione moved back so Ron could enter the penthouse. "I'm so sorry but I totally forgot about tonight and I haven't made anything to eat."

"That's fine, we can order pizza." Ron said, taking off his coat and heading into the front room.

Like the television, takeaways were something else from the muggle world that Harry and Hermione had shown Ron, unsurprisingly it was something he was particularly fond of given his love of food.

"The menu's in the kitchen, you decide what you want." Hermione said. "I'll be back in a minute."

While Ron headed into the kitchen Hermione went back into Draco's study and tidied up. She had enjoyed viewing the memory and had every intention of relieving some more in the near future. As she returned to the front room Hermione even considered the possibility of showing a few memories to Lyra when she was old enough, at least that way her daughter would have some idea about who her father was.


	11. Chapter 11

The sun was barely up when Harry, Charlie, Fred and George apparated into the small Irish village they had visited the previous day. Despite the twins moaning about the lack of a decent breakfast the four men hurriedly set off in the direction of the house owned by Blaise Zabini.

Upon arriving at the property Harry explained briefly what he was planning on doing. First of all Harry explained how he would cast a spell to detect magical beings in the property so they could establish whether it was worth the risk to break into the house. If they decided to go ahead with their plan, which Harry was fairly confident they would, Harry would then set about breaking the wards.

The Weasley's watched in awe as Harry began producing a spell that would give them information regarding what they would be facing inside the house. Years ago none of them would have imagined Harry would be capable of such advanced magic but working as an Auror had developed Harry's skills immensely, he was now an extremely talented wizard.

Harry pulled out a small black box like object from his bag and cast a spell over it. The box was a handheld muggle gps system that the Auror department had adapted to suit their magical detection spell, over the year and a half it had been in operation the device had proved very helpful to Harry. With a few more adjustments Harry turned to his friends with a smile on his face.

"There's a magical being in the property." Harry said, showing them the screen. "See that green dot, that indicates someone or something with magical ability."

"By something with magical ability do you mean an object?" Charlie questioned, he didn't want to break into the house and be disappointed when they found some inanimate object rather than Draco.

"No." Harry shook his head. "The spell detects living presence, by something I meant a house elf or some other magical creature."

"So there's no guarantee that this is Draco." Fred said, pointing at the green dot on the screen.

"No, but my gut instinct says it is." Harry said.

"Whether it is or not we have to take the chance if we believe Draco could potentially be trapped in the house." Charlie said.

"Fred, George you two take the detector and keep an eye on it. Let me know if anything else appears on the monitor." Harry said, handing the detector to Fred.

Fred and George settled down on the ground, making sure they were hidden from view by a large rock. Harry had made it clear that they couldn't be spotted, he was hoping to get in and out of the house without any trouble.

"If we find Draco in the house, what are you going to do about the Slytherins?" Charlie asked Harry.

"If we find Draco, which I'm sure we will, I'll send a team of Auror's to arrest the group." Harry explained.

"Do you think they'll get sent to Azkaban?" Charlie asked.

"Yes, I'll personally make sure they do." Harry replied. "They've put Hermione through hell these last six months and they're not getting away with it."

"I don't suppose it's exactly been easy on Draco either." Charlie mused.

"No, I don't suppose it has." Harry said, thinking about how hard it must have been for the blond to be separated from the woman he loved. "Do you think he knows anything of what's being happening?"

"I hope not." Charlie replied. "It would be devastating for him if he knew how broken Hermione is."

"I don't suppose it would be ideal to find out you're going to be a father in his situation either." Harry said.

"He didn't know about the baby?" Charlie exclaimed in surprise.

Harry shook his head sadly. "Hermione only found out she was pregnant the weekend that Draco was away."

"Then let's hope his so called friends have kept him in the dark regarding Hermione." Charlie sighed.

Harry nodded in agreement before turning to examine the wards. "I need to get started on breaking the wards, several of them will take a while."

"I might have a walk into the village." Charlie said. "The shops should be opening soon and we could do with something to eat."

"That's a good idea but be on the lookout for Slytherins." Harry cautioned.

"Don't worry, I'll be careful." Charlie said.

After checking with his brothers in case there was anything special they wanted Charlie set off to the village, leaving Harry to make a start on breaking the wards.

Harry worked on the wards solidly all morning, only stopping briefly when Charlie returned to the village with breakfast. After handing Harry some food Charlie had settled down next to the twins, the three Weasley's letting Harry work in peace.

"I think we have a problem." Fred called to Harry, a little after midday.

"What?" Harry asked, turning to the three Weasley's who were closely examining the monitor in George's hand.

"Two more dots have appeared on the screen." George said.

Harry immediately rushed over to where the Weasley's were sitting and examined the detector. As Harry looked at the monitor the three green dots suddenly became four green dots, then five dots.

"Damn, it looks like the whole group are arriving." Charlie exclaimed.

"This makes things more difficult." Harry sighed, watching as yet another two dots appeared on the small screen.

"We're not giving up are we?" Fred asked.

"No, we go in as planned." Harry shook his head stubbornly, he was entering the house no matter how many Slytherins were inside. "I need to finish breaking the wards, let me know if there's any more developments."

"Will anyone in the house be able to tell you're disarming the wards?" George asked, he was worried that the presence of the Slytherins inside the house would vanquish their element of surprise.

"No, I'm professionally trained to break through wards undetected." Harry replied.

As the three Weasley's settled back down to observe the monitor Harry returned to the wards. While what he had told the others was true, he was professionally trained, Harry had failed to mention that it had taken him several attempts to pass the disabling wards undetected test in his Auror exams. With the addition of people inside the property he was working on Harry knew he would have to concentrate extra hard, there was no way he was planning on giving the Slytherins advance warning that someone was trying to gain entry to the property.

* * *

Blaise and Pansy appeared in the middle of the large front room and both immediately began making the room more hospitable. Blaise summoned some alcohol and glasses, placing them on the table, while Pansy vanished the dust that had gathered in the few days that no-one had entered the room.

"We really need to send one of the elves to tidy this place." Pansy moaned. "It's a disgrace that I have to clean whenever we visit."

"It's not as if we use this place much." Blaise shrugged.

"We should, it's really nice." Pansy said.

"It's not exactly relaxing to be in a house where you're holding your former friend prisoner." Blaise said, he personally found being in the house creepy knowing that Draco was imprisoned in the spare bedroom.

"Hopefully we'll be solving that problem soon." Pansy muttered. The reason they had arranged for their friends to visit was so that they could discuss what to do about Draco, now he wasn't reacting to the news they were delivering Blaise and Pansy were wondering if it was time to change tactic with their former friend.

Right on cue Pansy and Blaise heard the crack of apparition in the hallway, a second crack sounding moments later. When the door opened Crabbe and Goyle entered the room and greeted their friends. Blaise settled Crabbe and Goyle into seats and gave them drinks as they waited for the final member of their group to arrive.

The crack of apparition a few minutes later signalled the entrance of the final person. Blaise and Pansy turned to greet Theo as he entered the room but the sight of Daphne standing beside him stopped the couple in their tracks. Blaise and Pansy shared a quick look before they separated the newly arrived couple, Pansy pulled Daphne to one side to talk while Blaise steered Theo out of the front room and back into the hallway.

"What the hell are you doing?" Blaise hissed at his friend. "You weren't supposed to bring Daphne. How are we going to have a conversation with her around?"

"I couldn't exactly leave her at home." Theo sighed. "She thinks we're just spending the afternoon with friends."

"And what about the situation with Draco?" Blaise questioned. "We have a lot to discuss."

"I know." Theo nodded. "That's why Daphne has offered to cook. While she's in the kitchen, we can talk."

"Offered?" Blaise chuckled, raising his eyebrow.

"I suggested it to her." Theo muttered.

"She better not cause trouble." Blaise warned, before he turned and re-entered the front room.

Theo sighed before following Blaise into the front room, he hadn't wanted to attend this afternoon but Pansy had insisted. Theo knew he was too involved just to walk away, no matter how much he wanted to. Upon entering the room Theo shooed Daphne off to the kitchen, hating how easily controlled she was these days.

After the almost scene at Draco's funeral Theo had taken Daphne away for a few weeks to convince her to keep quiet about their plan. After almost a fortnight Daphne was still adamant she was going to tell someone what they had done, despite Theo warning her that they would all end up in Azkaban. Getting desperate Theo had resorted to his back-up plan, slipping Daphne a potion that left her thoughts pliable to suggestion. While Daphne was under the influence of the potion Theo removed her memories of what had really happened to Draco and implanted the same story in her mind that everyone else knew. By the time they came back from holiday Daphne genuinely thought that Draco was dead. Theo still had to keep a close eye on his fiancé as Daphne needed to ingest some of the potion every week for the implanted story to stick. The only side effect was that Daphne was now easily influenced by Theo and could easily be controlled by the Slytherin, if he wished to do so.

"What's the problem?" Theo asked, once Daphne had left the room and Blaise had cast a silencing charm around the group.

"Draco's not responding to us anymore." Pansy pouted, telling the others about his lack of reaction when they taunted him about Hermione moving on.

Theo couldn't help but laugh at Pansy as she moaned about her ridiculous plan failing. Theo could see a few faults in her plan and he wasn't the slightest bit surprised that Draco hadn't been affected by the rubbish Pansy had told him.

"What is so funny?" Pansy demanded, glaring at Theo.

"You are." Theo said, still laughing slightly. "Telling Draco that Granger was moving on with Potter was never going to work."

"Why not?" Blaise asked, curious to hear Theo's opinions.

"First of all you failed to take into consideration that Draco and Potter are actually quite good friends." Theo said.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Pansy interrupted.

"You'd have to be a pretty bad friend to get involved with your dead friends pregnant fiancé a few months after he died." Theo explained. "Then there's the fact that Potter has a girlfriend, neither Potter or Granger are the type of people who would cheat."

"I still say it was believable." Pansy insisted, not willing to admit her plan had been flawed.

"Believable would have been telling Draco that Granger had moved on with Weasley." Theo said.

"How would that have been more believable?" Blaise asked with a sneer.

"Firstly, he's single. If Granger was moving on it's more likely she would move on with someone who was available. Then there's the fact that back in school he had a major crush on her, which everyone knew about, including Draco. Lastly, him and Draco were never particularly close so he would be less likely to feel guilty about taking Draco's place in Granger's life." Theo finished his reasoning with a smirk, both Pansy and Blaise looked stunned as they realised how much they had messed up.

"Well it's too late to change our story now." Blaise shrugged, dismissing Theo. "We have to decide whether we carry on with our original plan or whether we change direction."

"What would the change of direction be?" Theo asked nervously. He had a good idea where Blaise's change of direction would lead and he wasn't sure it was something he could live with, he was struggling enough with the guilt of what they had already done.

"I have two ideas." Blaise said. "Option one, we kill Draco."

"No." Crabbe and Goyle shouted together, causing the other three to look at them in surprise.

"We only got involved on the promise that Draco wouldn't be killed." Goyle said.

"Yeah, he may have changed but he was our friend." Crabbe said, backing up his best friend.

"Fine we won't kill him." Blaise said. Originally the only way they could Crabbe and Goyle on board with their plan was to promise that Draco wouldn't be killed but Blaise hadn't expected the duo to stick to their original stance.

"What's option two?" Theo asked, pleased that Crabbe and Goyle had said what he was thinking regarding killing Draco.

"We brainwash Draco into becoming the person he was before he got involved with the mudblood." Blaise said. "I'm sure if we did some research we could find various methods of getting him in line."

"What happens if you get him to turn his back on Granger and embrace the dark again?" Theo questioned.

"When the time's right we concoct a story about Draco somehow surviving the fall." Blaise said, unconcerned about the details for the time being. "Then we watch as he breaks Granger's heart."

"What about the baby?" Theo questioned. "Do you honestly expect Draco will refuse to acknowledge his own child?"

"The old Draco would be appalled at the idea of having a half-blood daughter." Pansy said. "He'll want nothing to do with either the baby or Granger."

Theo nodded, not entirely convinced by Blaise and Pansy's new plan. Despite not being convinced the plan would work as they wished Theo found himself hoping the plan did succeed on some level, if it didn't he knew the time would eventually come when Blaise would resort to his other back-up plan and kill Draco.

"Well now that's sorted I can start looking into methods of returning Draco to his old self." Blaise said, he was quite excited by the prospect of having the old Draco back in his life.

"You can start tomorrow." Pansy told her husband. "Now I think we should forget our problems with Draco and enjoy the rest of the afternoon, hopefully Daphne's nearly finished making lunch."

At the idea of food Crabbe and Goyle hurriedly stood up and rushed into the kitchen, the others followed and discovered that Daphne was just putting the finishing touches to the meal. As the six Slytherins sat down to eat all their problems with Draco were forgotten, laughing and talking loudly the group didn't give the imprisoned man upstairs a second thought for the rest of the meal.


	12. Chapter 12

With the added pressure of having people inside the house that he was deactivating the wards for Harry worked slower than normal to ensure they weren't discovered. While Harry worked on the wards Charlie and the twins kept an eye on the monitor Harry had given them, hoping that some of the green dots would disappear.

It was nearly four in the afternoon before Harry put his wand down and turned to the waiting Weasley's. "We're in."

"What happens now?" Charlie asked.

"We either go in now or we wait and hope that the Slytherins leave." Harry said. "Personally I think we should wait, I don't like the fact that they outnumber us."

"They might outnumber us but the only real threats are Zabini and Nott." Fred said. "Crabbe and Goyle are useless."

"Plus two of them are girls, we can take them easily." George added.

"It doesn't really matter about their skills, they still outnumber us." Harry said. "All it takes is for one of them to slip away to where they're keeping Draco and we could lose him again."

"Harry's right." Charlie agreed with his youngest brother's best friend. "If one of them gets to Draco he might end up dead."

"So we wait on the off chance that they'll leave again?" Fred queried. "What happens if they don't?"

"I can't see them all staying the entire night, it makes no sense." Harry said. "Pansy and Blaise might stay over but I don't think they'll all stay."

"How long do we wait before we change our minds and go in?" George asked.

"If they're still inside the house later tonight we can go in, hopefully we can catch them when they're sleeping." Harry said.

With the plan sorted all four men settled down to wait, the magical detector constantly being checked for any change. By the time they had been waiting for just over an hour Harry was beginning to doubt his decision to wait, he had originally been convinced that some of the group would leave but now he was wondering if they were all planning on spending the weekend at the house.

"Something's happening." Charlie said quietly.

Harry, Fred and George immediately looked at the detector, not seeing any change from the last time they had looked. Harry was just about to ask Charlie what he was talking about when Charlie pointed towards the house. Harry and the twins looked towards the house, eyes widening as they noticed the open front door.

"What do you think is going on?" Charlie whispered.

"I don't know." Harry whispered back.

Harry and the Weasley's made sure they were out of sight as they watched the front of the house. Within seconds Crabbe and Goyle stepped out of the house, closely followed by Theo and Blaise. Pansy followed the man to the door and after speaking briefly with Blaise she went back inside, shutting the door behind her. Harry and the Weasley's kept their heads down as the four men walked down the garden path, heading in their direction. For a minute Harry thought they were about to be discovered, luckily the four Slytherins passed by without glancing in their direction. As the Slytherins passed the hidden group Harry and the Weasley's discovered the men were headed down to the pub in the nearby village for a few drinks.

Harry waited until the four Slytherins were out of sight before he spoke. "We have to get inside now. If we can get inside while there's only the girls inside it will make rescuing Draco a lot easier."

"How do we get inside?" Charlie asked. "Do we use force or try to trick our way in?"

"I was going to try knocking on the door." Harry said. "Hopefully Pansy will think it's Blaise forgotten his key or something."

"What do we do if Pansy isn't stupid enough to answer the door?" Fred asked, doubtful that the witch would fall for something so simple.

"Then we use force." Harry shrugged. "But I want to try the direct approach first."

"Okay, we'll try knocking." Charlie said. "Do you think two of us should head round to the back in case we need to break in?"

"No, that won't be necessary." Harry shook his head. "I'm planning on putting an anti-apparition ward around the house, it prevents people from apparating away from the property. Even if knocking doesn't work, there'll be no way to escape."

Once Harry had finished speaking he moved from his hiding place and started creeping towards the house, he made sure to still stay hidden in case anyone saw him from inside. Charlie, Fred and George followed Harry towards the house, stopping behind him when he paused to cast the anti-apparition ward around the property.

Once the ward was set Harry and the Weasley's made their way towards the front door. Harry positioned himself directly in front of the door while Fred and George stood on one side of the door and Charlie stood on the other side. Harry checked the Weasley's were ready before he knocked on the door, clutching his wand tightly in his hand.

Harry wasn't sure his plan would work but moments after knocking he heard footsteps approaching the door. When the door swung open Harry grinned at the sight of a surprised Pansy. Spotting Harry the witch quickly tried to shut the door but Harry had capitalised on her momentary surprise and put his foot in the doorway. Charlie, Fred and George had also converged beside him as they prepared to enter the house.

"Anyone would think you weren't happy to see us, Pansy." Harry said, pushing the door open.

Pansy fumbled with her wand, eventually managing to point it at the four men in the doorway. "Get out, you can't just barge in here."

"Actually I can." Harry said, stepping inside. "As an Auror I have the right to enter a property if I believe a crime has been committed."

Pansy paled at the word crime, taking a few steps backward suddenly the witch turned and started running down the hallway.

"Stupefy." Harry called, stunning the fleeing witch.

Harry walked over to Pansy, pulling a pair of handcuffs from his jacket pocket. The cuffs were enchanted so that whoever was wearing them couldn't use any magic or move without an Auror's permission. Harry slapped the handcuffs on Pansy and released her from the spell he had hit her with.

"Charlie, can you go and find whoever else is in the house." Harry said. Reaching into his jacket he produced another set of handcuffs and threw them at the redhead, Charlie caught them before heading into a nearby room.

"We'll go exploring." Fred said with a grin.

"Yeah, who knows what, or who, we'll find." George added, speaking directly to Pansy.

Harry nodded at the twins, hoping that they would be able to locate Draco. After Fred and George had wandered off Harry turned his attention back to Pansy. The witch looked extremely pale and was shaking slightly, Harry put it down to the fact that she had realised why they were here.

"Move." Harry said, pointing his wand at Pansy.

Pansy initially refused to move but after a few prods from Harry's wand she slowly walked into the front room where Harry made her sit on the sofa.

"Where is he?" Harry asked. Pansy glared at Harry, refusing to speak. "We know Draco's here. We know what you did." Pansy continued to glare at Harry, still not talking.

Harry was just about to try again to get a response from Pansy when Charlie entered the room with a sobbing Daphne. Hoping to get a better response out of Daphne, Harry made her sit next to Pansy.

"Where's Draco?" Harry asked Daphne.

"I've already told him." Daphne sobbed, pointing at Charlie. "Draco's dead, he died six months ago."

Harry looked at the sobbing witch before turning to Charlie. "She's convinced Draco's dead. She didn't put up a fight when I found her in the kitchen and she didn't seem to understand what I was talking about when I mentioned Draco."

Harry considered Charlie's words and Daphne's tears, either she was a great actress or she genuinely believed that Draco had actually died. Harry was convinced that she hadn't always been clueless as to Draco's real situation but he was prepared to believe that something had happened since to make her believe the story her friends had told everyone.

The sound of running feet heading their way made Harry and Charlie spin round, wands drawn. Pansy also looked up hopefully, her face clouding over as she recognised it was only the Weasley twins returning.

"We think we've found him." Fred gasped, entering the room at top speed.

"There's a warded door upstairs." George added, entering the room seconds behind his brother.

"I'll go and have a look." Harry said. "Stay here and watch Pansy and Daphne."

Harry had barely turned around to leave the room when loud shouting was heard and the four Slytherin men appeared in the doorway. Harry barely had time to wonder why they had returned home so quickly when spells started flying.

* * *

After lunch the Slytherins had spent the afternoon in the garden before Blaise suggested they go for a drink. Pansy and Daphne refused the offer but insisted the men went for a drink, they were far busy discussing Daphne's upcoming wedding to think about leaving the house.

The men hurriedly agreed and set off to walk to the pub. Since their discussion before lunch no-one had mentioned Draco and they were all enjoying spending time together without worrying about the blond man they had imprisoned. On the way to the pub Blaise and Theo had discussed the wedding and Blaise's duties as best man.

Blaise and Theo were still arguing over whether strippers were allowed at Theo's bachelor party when they entered the pub. While his friends settled down in a corner booth Blaise headed for the bar, smiling brightly at the blonde witch who was serving him.

"Did your friends find you yesterday?" The witch asked, pouring Blaise's drinks.

"What friends?" Blaise asked, suddenly suspicious.

"They didn't leave their names, but they were in here yesterday evening asking about you." The witch shrugged.

"What did they look like?" Blaise asked. He knew Potter had never liked him and his friends and he was worried that he had been the one asking awkward questions, but surely anyone with magic would recognise Harry Potter.

"The one asking the questions had black hair and glasses." The witch answered. "There were also three redheads with him, two were identical twins."

"Shit." Blaise swore, turning away from the bar and heading towards his friends. "We have to go, now." He called as he got nearer to the table.

"Why?" Theo asked.

"Potter and some Weasley's were here yesterday, asking questions." Blaise said. "They must be on to us somehow. We need to get back and move Draco."

"What about your drinks?" The witch behind the bar called as the four men bolted from the bar at top speed.

No-one stopped to answer, they were all worried about what they would find when they returned to the house. As soon as they left the pub all four men pulled out their wands and apparated straight back to the house.

"Pansy!" Blaise called, throwing open the front door.

Theo, Crabbe and Goyle sprinted after Blaise and together the four men burst into the front room. It took Blaise a few seconds to take in the scene, Pansy and Daphne sitting in handcuffs while Potter and his friends stood with their wands pointing towards them.

Blaise and Theo reacted at practically the same time, each throwing hexes at the men in front of them. Harry and the Weasley's responded quickly, throwing curses of their own at the Slytherins. As curses were thrown Blaise and Theo spread out, each hoping to sneak past the group of Gryffindors towards the women.

Harry and Charlie immediately spotted the move, both of them moving to battle with a different Slytherin. Harry found himself face to face with Blaise while Charlie and Theo faced off over the other side of the room. In between the two battles Crabbe and Goyle had stuck together, facing off against the twins.

As Harry dodged curses from Blaise he wasn't worried that they could escape with Pansy and Daphne, he knew that neither women could move until he gave them permission to do so. Harry also knew there was no escape for the men but he wondered how long they would fight before they tried to escape and realised they couldn't apparate away from the house.

As spells flew around the room Harry wasn't surprised to find that Blaise and Theo were skilled fighters, the fact that Crabbe and Goyle were holding their own against the twins was proving a surprise however. Just as Harry was wondering about Crabbe and Goyle's skills he heard a loud crash and spotted Fred sending Goyle flying across the room. As Fred rushed off to finish subduing Goyle, Crabbe backed away from George slightly before he tried to apparate. Harry saw Crabbe disappear for a brief moment before he reappeared with a scream, lying on the floor with a splinched arm.

While Harry had been momentarily distracted by Crabbe and Goyle, Blaise had used the opportunity to sneak past him towards Pansy. Harry turned to see Blaise trying to pull Pansy up off the sofa. Harry raised his wand to stun Blaise but Pansy managed to warn her husband in time, meaning Blaise managed to duck Harry's spell.

Turning back towards Harry, Blaise once again began shooting spells at the Auror. Blaise was currently wondering how they were going to escape, he had seen what had happened to Crabbe and knew there was some ward preventing them from apparating. He knew that with Crabbe and Goyle now nullified that the twins would soon be joining up with Potter and the other Weasley brother. Realistically Blaise knew they were fighting a losing battle but he wasn't planning on making things easy for Potter and the Weasley's.

Blaise narrowly missed being hit by a spell from behind and when he turned round he discovered that one of the twins was advancing on him while the other one was helping his brother back Theo into a corner. Blaise looked around for an escape root, finding nothing as Potter and the Weasley twin approached him from different angles. Like Theo, Blaise found himself being backed into a corner. Out of the corner of his eye Blaise saw Theo surrendering to the approaching Weasley's, vowing not to do the same as his friend Blaise shot numerous spells at the advancing Gryffindors, only managing to graze Harry's arm with a curse.

Harry and George defended themselves against Blaise's spells, shooting spells of their own when they had an opportunity. Both of them had noticed Theo giving up and Harry had briefly hoped that Blaise would follow suit, unfortunately Theo's surrender only seemed to anger Blaise and the Slytherin began fighting harder.

As hard as Blaise fought he was outnumbered and Harry and George eventually manoeuvred him so that he was pressed right back against the wall. When Charlie and Fred arrived at the fighting group after dealing with Theo, Blaise looked visibly worried. Despite being worried Blaise still fought valiantly, unfortunately he found it impossible to defend against four people. While Fred and George teamed up to bombard Blaise with stinging hexes Harry was able to disarm him when he was distracted.

The moment his wand went sailing out of his hands Blaise sank to the floor, he knew it was over. Harry warily approached the Slytherin and was surprised when he offered no resistance to being cuffed. Once he was cuffed Harry hauled Blaise to his feet and sat him with the rest of his friends. Harry noticed that all four Slytherins were bloody and cut in various places as the curses had hit them, Crabbe and Goyle seemed to be the worst affected though as both men looked to be suffering from injured limbs.

After briefly examining the damage to the Slytherins, Harry added magical handcuffs to Theo, Crabbe and Goyle, the three of them had just being restrained using regular magic and Harry wasn't taking any chances with them escaping. Once he was convinced that the Slytherins couldn't escape he checked his friends for any injuries, Fred and George appeared entirely unscathed while Charlie had a slight cut on his cheek and was rubbing at his shoulder. Harry himself had a shallow cut on his left arm from where Blaise had managed to hit him with a curse.

"I'm going to check out upstairs." Harry said to Charlie and the twins, satisfied that no-one needed medical attention. "Can you gather up the wands, they'll be needed as evidence."

Harry took one final look at the Slytherins, smiling slightly at their worried faces, before he left the room. Heading upstairs he found the room Fred and George had mentioned, it was heavily warded and Harry was convinced that Draco was on the other side. Carefully Harry set about breaking the wards and rescuing his best friend's fiancé.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N -** **Thanks everyone for the support of this story, I am currently writing the final few chapters so updates will hopefully be more frequent.** **I also wanted to address the issue raised by a reviewer about Harry and the Weasley's reaction to Daphne and Pansy presence in the house. In no way was it meant to imply they thought of women as inferior (Which as the reviewer pointed out with the strong women they know it doesn't make sense that they would think that) it was simply that, knowing the women in question, they didn't think Pansy and Daphne specifically posed any real resistance to them. **

* * *

Draco lay on the small bed, his eyes closed as he relived another one of his memories regarding his relationship with Hermione. Draco was currently reliving the night he had proposed to Hermione. Draco had been planning on proposing for several months and even had the engagement ring in his possession for over a month before he plucked up the courage to ask Hermione to marry him.

When he finally decided to propose Draco had planned to take Hermione away for the weekend, unfortunately Hermione was called into work so they had to cancel their plans. Since Draco had already planned on proposing that weekend he used the time that Hermione was at work to turn their penthouse into a romantic setting. When Hermione returned from work she discovered the entire penthouse decorated with floating candles and rose petals. Following the trail of rose petals Hermione found Draco in their bedroom where he was waiting to propose.

Draco smiled softly to himself as he remembered Hermione's stunned reaction to his proposal. After several minutes of silence a tearful Hermione had told Draco she would love to marry him. Draco briefly remembered the hours of celebrating they had indulged in before he opened his eyes and sat up. While Draco often thought about Hermione he tried to steer clear of thinking about their many sexual encounters. He had discovered early on in his imprisonment that thinking about Hermione in that way left him very aroused and even more frustrated that he wasn't with his fiancé.

Draco moved so he was sitting on the edge of the bed. Draco rotated his shoulder a few times, trying to dispel the stiffness he felt. Since his imprisonment Draco had tried to keep in shape by doing regular exercise. Earlier in the afternoon Draco had pulled his shoulder slightly when he was doing his daily exercise routine.

Draco was still sitting on the edge of the bed when he felt the wards in the room flickering. Over the last six months Draco had gradually become attuned to the wards, now he always felt when the protective ward around the door was being set. Draco instinctively knew that something else was happening to the wards, it wasn't someone simply setting up the ward around the door. Puzzled as to what was happening Draco sat watching the door to see who would enter the room.

Draco sat for nearly ten minutes, waiting for someone to enter the room. He was beginning to worry that his former friends were planning on moving him for some reason, if that was the case he was hoping he could find an opportunity to escape but Draco was wise enough to realise that the chances of escaping would be slim. If his friends were moving him they would be sure to erect several wards to prevent him escaping, which could possibly be what was taking them so long to enter the room.

When the door finally started to open Draco made sure not to look too intrigued by the drawn out entrance. He knew his blasé attitude was getting to Pansy and he was still hoping that eventually she would snap and do something stupid. Draco's indifference soon disappeared once the door was fully open and he spotted the figure in the doorway.

"Harry?" Draco questioned, standing up and approaching the dark haired man cautiously. While he was desperate to believe the man in front of him was Hermione's best friend he was wary in case it was purely a trick on his friends part.

"Draco! Thank god, we've found you." Harry exclaimed, extremely relieved to see the blond man.

"How on earth did you find me?" Draco asked. He was under the impression that everyone thought he was dead so he was very shocked to find that Harry had been searching for him.

"I'll explain everything later." Harry said. "Right now, we have several of your friends to deal with."

"Where are they?" Draco asked. He was now convinced that Harry was who he appeared to be by the scornful way in which he had referred the Draco's former friends, he was more than aware of Harry's dislike of the Slytherins that Draco once classed as his best friends.

"Downstairs. Fred, George and Charlie are keeping an eye on them." Harry said.

"What's going to happen to them?" Draco asked.

"They'll probably end up in Azkaban. Does that bother you?" Harry asked, he was surprised by Draco's calm attitude and he was wondering how he had dealt with his kidnapping.

"I hope they rot in hell for what they've done." Draco snarled.

"They will, I promise." Harry said, turning to leave the room. "Come on we should be going."

"Harry, wait." Draco called, stopping Harry in his tracks. "Does Hermione know I'm still alive?" He asked once Harry was facing him again.

"No." Harry shook his head. "We weren't sure we would find you and I didn't want to get her hopes up."

Draco nodded, pleased that Harry hadn't given Hermione false hope regarding his situation. "How is she?"

"Missing you." Harry responded. "She'll be thrilled to see you."

"So she isn't involved with anyone else?" Draco asked. Even though he knew his friends story about Hermione and Harry had been ridiculous Draco was still worried that Hermione may have moved on with someone else.

"No." Harry replied, shaking his head. "She's far too in love with you to get involved with anyone else."

Draco smiled softly, pleased that Hermione hadn't moved on. If she had moved on Draco didn't know how he would have coped, luckily that wasn't something he had to deal with.

"Come on, we've got lots to do before you can go home." Harry said, turning once again to leave the room.

Draco took one final look around the room that had been his prison for the last six months and followed Harry into the corridor.

"Where exactly are we?" Draco asked, following Harry down the stairs.

"Ireland. The house is owned by Blaise and Pansy." Harry explained.

"I figured we were in one of their properties." Draco mused. "They were the two that visited me the most, plus Pansy admitted being the brains behind the idea."

"This was Pansy's idea?" Harry asked, turning to look at Draco as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Yes." Draco nodded. "She told me all about their motives the first time she paid me a visit."

"That'll help things." Harry said. "It'll be easier to interview them with the information you can provide."

Draco couldn't supress a groan at Harry's words, he could just imagine the hours he would have to spend at the Ministry going over what had happened to him. Harry smiled at Draco, knowing exactly what his problem was.

"Don't worry, we'll just go over the basics tonight." Harry reassured the blond. "I'll give you a few days to settle back in at home before I take a full statement."

"Thanks, Harry." Draco said, wondering if it was actually best to get it over with and give Harry his full statement as soon as possible.

"Come on, let's get this over with." Harry said.

The two men had stopped to talk at the bottom of the stairs so Harry once again began to head back towards the front room, Draco following behind him. Draco paid little attention to his surroundings as he followed Harry, he just wanted to leave the house and the bad memories it contained far behind. When Harry opened a door and entered the front room Draco paused, taking a moment to compose himself before he followed Harry through the door.

Draco immediately spotted his former friends all sitting handcuffed. Shooting them a disgusted glare Draco turned his attention to the three redheads who had accompanied Harry on his rescue mission. Draco thanked the trio, he knew the main reason for saving him was their close friendship with Hermione but he liked to think he had established his own connection to the family of redheads over the years.

"I need to head to my office." Harry explained. While Draco was thanking the Weasley's he had connected the fireplace to the one in his office at the Ministry. "I'll only be a few minutes. Charlie, Fred, George watch the prisoners."

The Weasley's all nodded their heads and went back to guarding the group of Slytherins. As Harry entered the fireplace and flooed to his office Draco wandered over to the window, he wanted to stay as far away from his former friends as possible so he wouldn't be tempted to give them a good whack while they were incapacitated. While Draco was pleased that his former friends hadn't tried to speak to him he was still slightly put out that none of them looked repentant for their actions. The only exception was Daphne who was sitting crying heavily, Draco noticed that when he had entered the room she looked surprised to see him before the tears suddenly seemed to get heavier.

Less than five minutes after leaving Harry returned to the front room. The moment he stepped from the green flames he started speaking. "I've alerted the Aurors to what's happening, several of them are waiting in my office for the prisoners. I'll take everyone through one at a time."

Harry hauled Blaise to his feet and dragged him to the fire. While Harry travelled back and forth with the prisoners Draco kept his back to the room, not wanting to look at the people he had once called friends. When Harry came back for the last prisoner, Daphne, he told the three Weasley's that they could go home if they wished.

"Do you want to come back to ours and get yourself cleaned up?" Fred asked Draco once Harry had left once again.

"Yeah, you look a mess." George added. "Your hair is hideous."

"Unless of course you're trying for the Lucius look, in which case you've excelled yourself." Fred said with a grin.

Draco couldn't help but laugh at the twins, no matter the situation they always knew how to lighten the mood. "I think Harry needs me to visit the Ministry first, but thanks for the offer."

"Anytime mate." George said.

"It's good to have you back." Fred said. "I've missed telling ferret jokes."

Draco rolled his eyes at Fred. "I'm sure you've coped." He muttered.

"Barely." Fred sighed, dramatically.

Draco, Charlie and George all laughed at Fred's antics. Draco had missed the easy camaraderie he had with the Weasley twins and Charlie. He had even missed the twins constant teasing, something he had come to appreciate after he realised it was their way of accepting him.

The four men were all still standing in the front room when Harry reappeared from the fireplace a moment later. "I thought you would have left by now." He said, addressing the Weasley's.

"We're going now." Charlie said.

"Thank you, again. It means a lot to me that you've saved me." Draco said.

The three redheads all assured Draco that he was worth saving before they all apparated home. Before they left however Harry had told them all to keep quiet about Draco's return as they didn't want his return to be made public knowledge before Hermione and Narcissa knew of the news.

"Are you ready to go?" Harry asked Draco once they were alone.

"Yes, but before we do can you check if my wand is in the house?" Draco asked. "I didn't have it on me when I woke up so I have no idea where it is."

"Accio Draco's wand." Harry said, raising his own wand.

Draco sighed in disappointment when the spell didn't produce his wand. He felt odd without his wand on him, while he was trapped in the room it hadn't been much of an issue but now he was free and able to go wherever he liked he felt incomplete without his wand.

"Don't worry, we'll find it." Harry said, noticing Draco's disappointment. "I'll be searching the groups houses tomorrow, maybe we'll find it then."

"I hope so." Draco said.

Harry once again reassured the blond they would find his wand as they headed for the fireplace, he knew from experience how incomplete you felt without your wand in your possession. Harry and Draco flooed to Harry's office, which Draco was surprised to find empty.

"The Auror's have them in holding cells." Harry said, noticing Draco's puzzled expression at the empty room.

"Do the Auror's know what's happened?" Draco asked, wondering how many people knew he was still alive.

"Only a couple and they're sworn to secrecy." Harry explained. He hadn't wanted too many people knowing about Draco so he had confided in his two most trusted colleagues. The other Auror's in the department just knew the Slytherins had been arrested, not what they had been arrested for.

"I suppose you now want to know what happened." Draco sighed, not looking forward to relieving the experience.

Harry sat at his desk, gesturing for Draco to take the seat opposite him. "Yes. We don't need to go into great detail, I just need enough so that I can begin the interviews tomorrow."

"It's probably easier if I tell you everything I know now." Draco said. "I know you'll need to speak to me some more but I would rather get this over with quickly."

"That's fine." Harry said, charming a quill to make notes of what Draco was about to say.

For the next hour Draco told Harry everything he knew about his kidnapping, starting from the weekend away with his friends and ending with Harry appearing in his room earlier that evening. Occasionally Harry asked a question but mainly he let Draco talk as the blond was proving very thorough in his description of his ordeal. When Draco was finished talking Harry placed the papers in his desk and stood up.

"Are you ready to go home?" Harry asked.

Draco nodded, slightly nervous of the prospect of seeing Hermione. He hoped that his presence would be welcomed but he was worried in case the shock of having him suddenly returning from the dead resulted in anything happening to Hermione or the baby.

"Don't worry, Draco. Hermione will be thrilled to see you." Harry said.

"I just hope it's not too much of a shock." Draco said.

"So do I." Harry admitted, he was slightly nervous in case the shock of seeing Draco sent Hermione into early labour.

Harry held out his arm to Draco so they could apparate to the penthouse. Harry had already decided the best way to enter the penthouse was via the front door, he had already arranged the details with Ron in the hope that it was him who answered the door. Draco held onto Harry's arm and the Auror apparated them to the building in which Draco lived.

Arriving in the hallway outside the penthouse Draco looked around, noticing nothing had changed in the expensive building in which he lived. As Harry knocked on the front door Draco mentally prepared himself for seeing Hermione again, he had imagined this moment for so long and now it was happening it felt slightly surreal to him.


	14. Chapter 14

Hermione returned from the bathroom in time to see Ron look anxiously towards the front door, yet again. Ever since he arrived at the penthouse Ron had been on edge but Hermione had so far failed to discover why her friend was so distracted. When Ron had first started eyeing up the door Hermione figured he was just eager for the pizza to arrive, but he continued to sneakily look towards the door even after the food had arrived.

"Is everything all right Ron?" Hermione asked, settling back down on the sofa. "You seem distracted."

"I'm fine." Ron said, smiling to reassure Hermione he was okay.

"If you say so." Hermione shrugged, not believing Ron's protests. "We can put a different DVD on if you're not enjoying this." She suggested, wondering if her choice of DVD was behind Ron's lack of interest. Hermione knew that Ron preferred films but she was more of a television series person and when Ron had told her to choose the DVD she had put on an early season of her favourite comedy programme.

"No, I'm enjoying this." Ron said. "It's pretty funny, even if the main guy is telling his kids some highly inappropriate stories."

Hermione laughed lightly, turning her attention back to the television. Despite focusing on the television screen Hermione subtly kept an eye on Ron, after their conversation he paid more attention to the television and only occasionally snuck glances at the door.

Ron tired his best to focus on the television, he had told Hermione the truth about the programme. He was thoroughly enjoying it and planned on borrowing the other seasons from Hermione but his mind was firmly on Harry and his brothers and the task they were currently undertaking. The previous night Harry had told him that they were pretty sure they had found Draco and that they were hoping to rescue him sometime today. Ron hadn't wanted Hermione to be alone when Harry returned with Draco so he had finished work early and rushed to the penthouse, unfortunately quite a few hours later there was still no sign of Harry and Draco. The later it got the more Ron was worrying that something had gone wrong, he was beginning to doubt they had even found Draco or if they had they had ran into more trouble than anticipated.

Ron tried to stop worrying, so far Hermione hadn't pressed him into revealing what was bothering him but he knew if he kept looking so agitated that his best friend would force him to speak to her. Ron wasn't a great liar, he was worried that he would crack under Hermione's interrogation and confess everything to her. While Ron had initially wanted to inform Hermione of Harry's discovery his friend had convinced him that it wouldn't be a good thing to get the brunette witch's hopes up in case something went wrong. Ron had eventually agreed with Harry, hating to think about how upsetting it would be for Hermione to think Draco was still alive only to then either not find him or have Harry be proven wrong.

Ron was suddenly drawn out of his thoughts by the sound of a knock on the front door. "I'll get it." He announced, leaping up from his seat and heading into the hallway before Hermione had time to react.

Ron checked Hermione hadn't followed him before opening the door. Ron quickly greeted Harry before his gaze fell on the man standing behind him. Ron was surprised that Draco looked pretty much the same as normal, apart from the longer hair. Ron was unsure if Draco had lost weight or if the clothes he was wearing were slightly too big for him, unlike his regular wardrobe that fit him immaculately his clothes were baggy on his frame.

"Anyone would think you've seen a ghost, Weasley." Draco said, entering the penthouse and shutting the door behind him.

"Well you are even paler than normal." Ron retorted.

"Stop it you two." Harry scolded the arguing pair. "We don't want Hermione coming to investigate the noise. This is hardly the ideal way for her to find out what's being going on."

"Sorry." Ron said. "Have you decided how to tell her?"

"No." Harry shook his head. "But I'd rather not do it in the hallway."

"Let's get on with it then." Draco said, getting impatient to see Hermione.

"Stay here until I've prepared her." Harry said to Draco, wondering if there actually was a way to prepare Hermione for seeing her dead fiancé.

"Don't take all day then." Draco sighed, shooing Harry and Ron into the front room.

Leaving Draco in the hallway, Harry and Ron headed into the front room where Hermione was still sitting on the sofa. Hermione turned her head when the two men entered the room, smiling widely when she saw Harry.

"Harry, what are you doing here?" Hermione asked. "I thought you had a major case on at work."

"I did." Harry replied, sitting down opposite Hermione. "That's actually why I'm here."

"What does your case have to do with me?" Hermione asked, puzzled.

"A lot, but it's a very long story." Harry said. "The short story is I made six arrests earlier this afternoon and there's someone here to see you. He can help me explain what's being going on."

"Who is it?" Hermione asked, turning to look at the empty doorway.

"This is going to be shocking at first Hermione, but remember it's a good thing." Harry said, wondering if he should just tell her straight who she would see.

"Harry, I'm confused. Who the hell have you brought with you?" Hermione asked, getting annoyed at Harry's cryptic words.

"You can come in now." Harry shouted to Draco.

Hermione watched curiously as a figure appeared in the shadowy doorway. Hermione's mouth dropped open in shock as he moved into the light and she got a good look at the man. Hermione shook her head and shut her eyes, she was convinced she was going mad, she would have sworn the man who entered the room had been Draco. Taking a deep breath Hermione slowly opened her eyes, determined she wouldn't see Draco when she looked at the man who had accompanied Harry to her house. Closing her eyes hadn't gotten rid of her hallucination, when she took a second look at the man Hermione found herself staring into Draco's familiar grey eyes.

"Draco." Hermione whispered, not quite believing what she was seeing.

The moment Draco's mouth curved into the smile that gave her butterflies Hermione knew she was indeed looking at her fiancé. Pushing her pregnant body off the sofa Hermione rushed over to the blond, who immediately wrapped her in his embrace. Hermione had thousands of questions running around in her head but for the minute she ignored them, instead revelling in the fact she had Draco back.

Harry and Ron watched the reunited couple with lumps in their throats. It was obvious from her shaking body and the slight sniffles they could hear that Hermione was in tears in Draco's arms. Draco himself had his head buried in Hermione's hair but both Harry and Ron suspected that the blond was also shedding a few tears. After a few minutes of watching the embracing couple Harry and Ron turned away, not wishing to intrude too much.

Hermione tried desperately to stop her tears from falling, but the fact she was holding onto Draco after so long was making it impossible. For what felt like hours Hermione was content to stand in Draco's arms as she wept. Hermione was pretty certain that Draco had also been crying when they first embraced but the longer they stood there he composed himself and began trying to calm Hermione down. At first the sound of Draco's voice whispering in her ear produced fresh tears but eventually hearing the voice she longed to hear for so long began to comfort her.

Hermione waited until her tears had subsided slightly before she pulled back and looked up at Draco. "How?" She whispered, her voice slightly hoarse from the crying. "They said you were dead."

"Hermione, why don't you and Draco come and sit down." Harry called before Draco had a chance to respond. "We'll explain everything."

Still slightly shocked Hermione allowed Draco to lead her over to the sofa. When Hermione was seated Draco sat next to her, taking her hand in his and pulling her closer into his body. Hermione looked down at their interwoven hands, barely able to believe what was happening. She was half thinking she had fallen asleep and when she woke she would find it all to be a cruel dream and she still wouldn't have Draco back.

"Should I begin?" Harry asked Draco. He wasn't sure if Draco was able to speak properly as he looked slightly overwhelmed by events.

Draco nodded, looking relieved that Harry had offered to begin the story. Taking a deep breath Harry began to tell his story.

"I suppose we should start at the beginning." Harry said, unsure what Hermione would think about him keeping her in the dark over his theories. "As you know I've never liked or trusted Draco's friends. Pretty soon after the accident I began to suspect there was more to the story than they were saying. I was convinced that they had killed Draco so I set out to investigate, unfortunately I found no evidence to support my theory."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Hermione asked from her position in Draco's arms. She was stunned that Harry had known something wasn't right all those months ago and hadn't confided in her.

"What good would it have done?" Harry asked sadly, hoping Hermione would be able to understand his actions. "I couldn't prove anything and it wouldn't have changed what happened. Knowing that it wasn't an accident wouldn't have helped you, you would still have been grieving just the same."

Hermione nodded, understanding Harry's reasoning. While knowing Harry's suspicions wouldn't have helped her cope, it would however have stopped her from associating with the group. Neither Harry or Draco had said his friends were involved in what happened but Harry had mentioned six arrests earlier and there were six Slytherins among Draco's friends.

"None of that explains what's being going on though." Hermione said. "How did you go from suspecting murder to finding Draco?"

"That was Fred's doing." Harry explained. "I spent six months trying to prove my theory, without success, I finally decided to give up last weekend at the Manor. Then Fred overheard Pansy and Blaise discussing Draco, only they spoke about him as though he was still alive. Once we knew Draco was alive we set out to find him."

"Whose we?" Hermione questioned, glaring at Harry. She was annoyed that Harry had discovered Draco was alive nearly a week ago and was only informing her now. "Who else knew Draco was alive and didn't bother to tell me?"

"The twins, Ron and Charlie." Harry admitted. "We didn't tell you because we didn't want to get your hopes up."

"I had a right to know." Hermione insisted. "You shouldn't have lied to me."

"We didn't lie, Hermione." Ron said, joining the conversation for the first time. "We just didn't tell the whole truth."

"Well you should have told the truth." Hermione said. "I'm a big girl I could have handled it."

"Really?" Harry questioned, looking sceptical. "Hermione, you've barely held it together these last few months. Do you really think you would have coped if we told you about Draco, then failed to find him? Or what if we were wrong? What if Fred had gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick and Draco had been dead, we would have raised your hopes for nothing. I'm sorry for lying to you, but I wasn't prepared to put you through any more pain."

Hermione listened to Harry's speech in shock at first, but as he went on she admitted to herself that he was right in what he was saying. Hermione was aware of how badly she had handled losing Draco and she knew that Harry was right, if she had known about the possibility of Draco being alive and they never found him it would have destroyed her.

"I'm sorry." Hermione whispered softly. "I understand why you didn't tell me."

"I wanted to, we all did." Harry said. "If I could have guaranteed finding Draco then I would have told you straight away."

"I know." Hermione smiled at Harry, letting him know she had forgiven him for keeping her in the dark . "Why don't you finish telling us how you found Draco."

"As I was saying, once we knew Draco was alive we began trying to find him." Harry continued, pleased that Hermione had forgiven him. "I made a list of properties owned by the group of Slytherins where they could potentially be holding Draco. The twins, Charlie and I started investigating them and found a potential property late yesterday evening in Ireland. We went back today and made it into the house. To cut a long story short the entire group turned up, we arrested them and released Draco."

"Was anyone hurt?" Hermione asked, mentally reminding herself to visit the twins and Charlie so she could thank them in person.

"Nah, they were no match for us." Harry replied with a grin.

"What happens now?" Ron asked. "Will they end up in Azkaban?"

"More than likely." Harry nodded. "Tomorrow I'll launch a full scale inquiry. They'll be questioned and I'll search their homes. I'm not sure of all the charges but they faked Draco's death and imprisoned him for six months, I can't see any of them getting off lightly."

"Good, I hope they never see the light of day again." Hermione said forcefully. As Draco had yet to speak she had no real insight into what he had been through but just the thought of him imprisoned for six months was enough to get her blood boiling.

"Do we get to hear Draco's side of the story now?" Ron asked. He pretty much knew everything Harry had said but he had no idea about what had actually happened to Draco.

"I was actually going to suggest we leave, Ron." Harry said. "Hermione and Draco have plenty to discuss and could probably do with some time alone. I know Draco's side of things so I could tell you, if that's alright with him."

"That's fine." Draco said. He was relieved that he didn't have to relive his ordeal with an audience, telling Harry was bad enough and he knew it would likely be worse telling Hermione so he didn't want to add Ron to the mix as well. "Thanks Harry."

"Are you sure you're alright with Harry telling me the story, I don't have to know." Ron said, wondering if Draco would be more comfortable with people not knowing the details of what he went through.

"I have no objection to you knowing, I would just prefer it if I wasn't the one to do it." Draco said, looking down at Hermione who was still wrapped securely in his arms. "I really don't want to discuss it more than necessary." He added quietly.

"Of course, sorry if I was insensitive." Ron said with a grimace.

"You're always insensitive, Weasley." Draco replied, rolling his eyes. "I'm used to it."

Ron muttered something about ferrets under his breath, but the smile he was wearing showed that he wasn't serious. After telling Draco he was pleased he was back Ron turned to say goodbye to Hermione who reluctantly left Draco's embrace to see her friend off.

While Ron and Hermione were saying goodbye Harry and Draco spoke quietly together. Harry promised to search for Draco's wand and arranged a time to speak with the blond the following day. After quickly saying goodbye to Hermione, Harry left with Ron, leaving the couple alone for the first time in six months.

* * *

**A/N - I know there wasn't a great deal of Dramione interaction in this chapter but the next one continues straight from here and is pure Hermione and Draco. **

**I have now officially finished writing this story, there are 17 chapters plus an epilogue. Hopefully updates will now be daily until the end.**


	15. Chapter 15

Draco and Hermione looked at each other for several minutes, neither entirely sure how to break the silence that had descended when Harry and Ron had left. Hermione was still struggling to come to terms with the fact that Draco was alive while Draco was slightly overwhelmed to be home. Both of them had hundreds of things they wanted to say to the other one but neither of them could find the words to express how they felt being back together.

Hermione used the time to silently observe Draco, she had been so overwhelmed to see him earlier that she hadn't taken much notice of how he looked. Hermione instantly knew he was thinner and she knew his longer hair would be annoying him but she was relieved to see that on a whole he looked perfectly healthy. He was also paler than normal but after been imprisoned for six months she wasn't surprised by his lack of colour.

Draco had done his observing of Hermione while Harry was speaking but he still found himself staring at the witch in front of him. Despite knowing about Hermione's pregnancy and seeing pictures of her baby bump it was an odd experience for Draco to see her in the flesh, it really made it real to him that she was expecting their child.

As the couple continued to stare at each other Hermione felt the tears starting to well up in her eyes. She knew the tears were a combination of hormones, the stress of the last six months and the pure joy of having Draco back. The minute Draco spotted Hermione's tears he rushed forward and embraced his fiancé. Hermione let Draco lead her over to the sofa, all the time clinging onto him tightly.

"It's okay, darling. It's all over now." Draco soothed. He had never been good at dealing with crying women and was unsure of how to make Hermione feel better.

"I thought I'd never see you again." Hermione sobbed.

"I know." Draco said, hating to think about how much Hermione had suffered. "I promise you, I'm not going anywhere. I'll always be here for you, both of you."

Hermione looked up at the mention of the baby, it was the first time anyone had alluded to her pregnancy and she found herself wondering just how much Draco knew about what had been happening in his absence. Hermione was only just realising that he hadn't looked the slightest bit shocked by her appearance when he first arrived, obviously he had known about the baby. She was just unsure if Harry had told him before they arrived at the penthouse or if he had been aware of her pregnancy for some time.

"How long have you known about the baby?" Hermione asked. She hoped he had only just found out, she hated to think he had been aware of it the entire time he had been kidnapped.

"Since you told people." Draco said. "My so called friends took great pleasure in taunting me over the fact I was missing it."

"I'm sorry, Draco." Hermione said, with a sniff. She was still trying to stop her tears from falling but the fact that Draco had known about the baby wasn't helping to stop her crying. She hated to think about how upsetting it must have been for Draco not being able to experience her pregnancy alongside her.

"It's not your fault Hermione." Draco said, wiping away the tears that were trailing down Hermione's cheeks. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I should have been here for you."

"It wasn't as if you chose to be kidnapped." Hermione pointed out. "You're here now, that's all that matters to us."

As she finished speaking Hermione felt the baby kick, grabbing Draco's hand she placed it on her stomach so he could feel. Hermione smiled as she saw the joy in Draco's face as he felt his daughter kick for the first time.

"That's amazing." Draco exclaimed. "She's so active."

"She's just pleased to have her daddy here." Hermione smiled. "Wait, you know she's a girl." It had taken Hermione a few minutes to work out that Draco had referred to the baby as she.

"I had a visit from Pansy and Blaise a few days ago, they let it slip that you were having a girl." Draco said, his attention still focused on Hermione's stomach and the kicking baby she was carrying.

"We." Hermione said, causing Draco to look up questioningly. "We're having a girl, it's not just me having a girl, it's both of us. Lyra is part of us both and now she'll have both of us in her life as she grows up."

"Lyra?" Draco questioned, he had no idea that Hermione had already named the baby.

"Yes, that's what I decided to call her. We can change it if you don't like it." Hermione said rapidly, worrying that Draco would disapprove of the name she had chosen. "Your mother suggested naming her after a constellation and Lyra was my favourite, but we can choose one together if you would rather."

"I love it." Draco said, stopping Hermione before she could carry on rambling. "Lyra Malfoy has a nice ring to it."

"That's what I thought." Hermione said. "Do you want to see her nursery?"

Draco nodded before standing and helping Hermione up from the sofa. As Hermione led Draco towards the spare room he took the opportunity to look around the penthouse. He noticed that it was pretty much the same as when he had last been in the house, the only difference he could see was the fact that his belongings were now absent.

"Wow, this is brilliant." Draco exclaimed once he and Hermione had entered the nursery. "Who did this?"

"My dad." Hermione replied. "He did the whole thing as a surprise."

"I had no idea he was so talented." Draco said, examining the mural closely.

"Neither did I." Hermione said, watching Draco as he looked at the prince and princess on the wall.

Draco stared at the painting for several minutes, he was extremely touched that Hermione's father had included him in the scene. Draco was pleased that even though everyone thought he was dead they had still tried to make sure he was a part of his daughters life in some small way.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Hermione asked suddenly, it was only just occurring to her that Draco might not have eaten recently. In fact she had no idea how he had been treated or how often he had even had a decent meal. "Ron and I had pizza earlier but I could make you something."

"It's fine." Draco said, shaking his head. "I could do with having a decent shower though. I could also do with getting changed but I don't suppose I've got any clothes."

"Actually you do." Hermione said. "Everything is in the study."

"What do you mean by everything?" Draco asked. He had expected that Hermione would have gotten rid of his belongings after six months.

"Everything you own." Hermione admitted. "I couldn't bring myself to get rid of anything belonging to you."

Draco smiled at Hermione and moved so that he was standing in front of her. "That's lucky for me then. It saves me having to replace everything."

"It's a good job I failed to move on." Hermione said. She was pleased that she had failed to listen to her mother and dispose of Draco's belongings when she suggested it months ago.

"I'm sure you would have eventually." Draco said quietly. The idea of Hermione moving on was painful but he knew that if he really had been gone for good that it would have been the best thing for Hermione.

"Luckily we'll never know." Hermione said. "I'll go and get your clothes while you have a shower."

"I can get them, I don't want you carrying boxes in your condition." Draco protested.

"I'll not be carrying boxes, I'll use magic." Hermione said, turning and walking out of the nursery.

"Fine, but don't strain yourself." Draco said, following Hermione.

"I won't." Hermione called over her shoulder as she headed for the study.

Draco watched Hermione leave before he walked the few yards to the master bedroom. Entering the room Draco noticed that like the rest of the penthouse the room was identical to before, apart from his absent belongings. Draco found the bathroom was also exactly the same as he turned on the shower and undressed.

After a long, hot shower Draco emerged and wrapped a light blue towel around his waist. Standing in front of the bathroom mirror Draco ran his hand through his wet hair, grumbling at the length. One of the first things he would do when Harry found his wand would be to cut his hair and return it to normal. Having a brainwave Draco went to the bathroom door and opened it.

"Hermione can I borrow your wand?" He asked the witch who was currently using the wooden stick to magically return his clothes to the wardrobe and drawers.

"Sure, I'm nearly finished." Hermione replied, flicking her wand one final time. "Why do you want it?" She asked as she handed it to Draco.

"I want to cut my hair." He replied heading back into the bathroom, leaving the door open behind him.

Hermione wasn't the slightest bit surprised by Draco's wish to cut his hair, she knew exactly why he always kept it short. Hermione herself was also pleased that Draco was cutting his hair, with the longer hair he looked too much like his father for her liking.

While Draco was busy sorting himself out Hermione decided she would get ready for bed. She was hoping that when he had finished in the bathroom that Draco would finally open up about what had happened to him. Hermione wasn't sure if she wanted to hear what Draco had been through but she knew that she would be imagining all sorts until she heard the real story from Draco. So far Hermione hadn't pushed Draco into talking and she had already decided that she would wait for him to confide in her rather than push him into something he wasn't ready for.

Once she was settled in her comfiest pair of pyjama's Hermione poked her head into the bathroom to check on Draco. Draco was currently looking through the bathroom cabinet and Hermione blushed slightly when she realised what he was holding in his hand. Draco was currently holding a bottle of his aftershave that Hermione had hidden in the back of the bathroom cabinet. Hermione knew her mother wouldn't approve of her hanging onto it but Hermione had found it calming to smell the aftershave occasionally, it had reminded her of Draco.

"I see you really did have trouble moving on." Draco suddenly said, causing Hermione to jump.

Draco replaced the bottle in the cabinet before he turned his head to face Hermione. Hermione lowered her head, knowing that Draco would know exactly what his aftershave was doing hidden in the cabinet.

"I was looking for a toothbrush." Draco said, hoping he hadn't embarrassed Hermione. "I know you always keep a couple of spares."

Hermione walked over to the cabinet and rummaged around for a bit before handing Draco a new toothbrush. Opening the new toothbrush Draco moved over slightly, allowing Hermione to stand beside him. Hermione reached for her own toothbrush and the couple set about cleaning their teeth. Standing next to Draco as they brushed their teeth Hermione realised just how much she had missed small moments like these. For the first time in six months Hermione didn't feel the ache of something missing as she went about her nightly routine.

Once they were finished in the bathroom Draco handed Hermione back her wand, thanking her for the use of it.

"You look much better now." Hermione said, running her hands through Draco's damp hair.

"It's not perfect but it'll do until I get my own wand back." Draco said.

"Does Harry know where it is?" Hermione questioned as they entered the bedroom.

"No, he said he'll look for it tomorrow." Draco replied, heading towards the drawer where he normally kept his sleepwear.

Draco was pleased to see that Hermione had returned everything to its proper place and the drawer was filled with pyjama bottoms. Draco pulled a dark green pair of bottoms from the drawer and began searching for a top. Normally he didn't wear a top to bed but Draco knew that he and Hermione would be talking for a while before they settled down to sleep.

When Draco dropped the towel and began to get ready for bed he couldn't help the smirk that appeared on his face when he noticed Hermione watching him, lust starting to cloud her brown eyes. Normally Draco would have made a suggestive comment or stayed naked but even though they hadn't had sex in six months Draco knew that the conversation they were about to have was more important than getting physically reacquainted.

After he finished dressing Draco returned the towel to the bathroom and got into bed, gesturing for Hermione to join him. Once Hermione had manoeuvred herself onto the bed Draco pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head as she settled next to him.

"You don't have to talk about it, if you're not ready." Hermione said.

"I thought you would want to know what happened. I know I would if I was in your position."

"I do want to know, but I don't want to pressure you into talking."

"You're not." Draco reassured Hermione. "If we discuss it now we can deal with it and move on."

"Fine, but if it's too painful for you we'll stop." Hermione told Draco, looking up into his grey eyes that were already starting to fill with pain.

Draco nodded and pulled Hermione even closer as he took a deep breath. He knew there was a lot to mention and he had decided to start from the beginning.

"First of all I have absolutely no idea what they did to me in the mountains or how they moved me. The last thing I remember about the weekend was standing near the top of a mountain admiring the view, I can remember thinking how much you would have loved it, you could see for miles." Draco said, running his hand through Hermione's hair to keep reminding himself that it was over and he was safe at home. "The next thing I knew I was waking up in a strange room. It didn't take me long to figure out my wand was missing and there was some sort of ward around the room preventing me from doing wandless magic."

"How soon did you know your friends were involved?" Hermione asked after Draco had been silent for several minutes.

"It took me a while to work out they were involved. At first I thought they could have been captured as well, but after a few days a nagging suspicion that they were involved started to form. After all what sort of people would be powerful enough to kidnap five grown wizards, it just didn't make sense. It was maybe a week later that Pansy showed up and I discovered the real story."

"They left you alone for a week?" Hermione asked, shocked. "Did you have any supplies?"

"After I'd been in the room for nearly a day a house elf appeared with food and drink. The elf showed up daily throughout my stay but I couldn't get it to talk to me." Draco said. "Surprisingly I was treated pretty well."

"Yeah being locked up with no magic is a top class way to treat your friend." Hermione muttered sarcastically. She was still fuming that she hadn't seen through the Slytherins and had genuinely believed they were mourning Draco.

Draco chuckled softly at Hermione's indignation. "Back to Pansy." Draco said, getting back on track with his story. "When she visited me the first time she admitted that the kidnap was all her idea. After ranting about how I'd betrayed them by changing my opinions after the war she threw me a bunch of newspapers and left."

"Oh god, they showed you the press coverage surrounding your accident." Hermione gasped in horror. Hermione hadn't seen a lot of the news surrounding the accident but she knew that she and Narcissa featured heavily in most of the articles.

"Yes, they loved showing me how much you were suffering." Draco said. "They would visit regularly with newspapers, magazines and even photographs. They wanted to make sure I knew everything that was happening in your life."

"How did they tell you about the baby?" Hermione asked quietly. She was horrified by the amount of suffering Draco had gone through in the last six months.

"Originally Pansy and Blaise told me during a visit but I refused to believe them, I thought it was just another way for them to torture me. A few days later they showed up with a copy of The Daily Prophet, there was an official statement regarding your pregnancy in the paper." Draco explained. He could still remember the mixture of pain and happiness he had felt when he read the announcement, he was thrilled at the prospect of becoming a father but devastated to be missing out and then there was the fact that Hermione thought he was dead and she was having to cope alone.

"That's an awful way to find out I was pregnant." Hermione said, struggling to hold back the tears.

"It was, but I spent days imagining different scenarios in which you could have told me the news, that helped me cope." Draco told Hermione. He had noticed she was close to tears again so he wanted to reassure her that while he had been through a traumatic experience he had coped relatively well.

"So is that how you spent the past six months? Stuck in a room with your supposed friends visiting you to taunt you about me?" Hermione was wondering if there was more to Draco's imprisonment then he was letting on.

"Pretty much." Draco nodded. "As horrific as the experience was I'm very aware that it could have been a lot worse. I spent the first few months waiting for them to do something more to me, I half expected them to try and brainwash me into believing all that pureblood nonsense again."

"Maybe they would have gotten round to it, if they had you for longer." Hermione suggested. "Maybe they were hoping that the psychological torment they were putting you through would make you easier to manipulate."

"If they did then they underestimated me. As hard as it was seeing how devastated you were it only made me more determined to come home to you." Draco said. "No matter what happened I knew one day I would come back to you and our daughter, that was what kept me strong, knowing I had a family to come back to. I love you far too much to have ever given up hope of seeing you again."

By the time Draco had finished speaking Hermione was once again crying. Hermione was overwhelmed by the determinedness that Draco had shown throughout his ordeal, she knew Draco loved her but she had no idea just how much until this minute.

"I'm sorry, Hermione. I didn't mean to make you cry." Draco said, once again wiping away Hermione's tears.

"It's not your fault, I cry a lot lately. I blame being pregnant." Hermione sniffed. "Although these tears are happy ones, what you said was lovely."

"And true." Draco said softly. "I love you more than anything in this world and I always will."

"I love you, too." Hermione whispered as Draco gently brought his lips down to hers.

The kiss was short and possibly the most gentle kiss the couple had ever shared, but it was by far the most meaningful and emotion fuelled kiss they had partaken in during their relationship.

The moment the kiss was broken both Hermione and Draco knew their conversation was over for the night. They both knew there was more to discuss but they were both too emotionally drained to deal with it at the minute, instead they settled down in bed both looking forward to a good night's sleep.

It took several minutes for the couple to get settled as they had to deal with Hermione's baby bump. Both of them wished to be as close as possible to the other one but their normal sleeping position, Hermione wrapped securely in Draco's arms with her head on his chest, wasn't very comfortable with the large bump Hermione was sporting. Eventually they settled with Draco spooning Hermione, her back pressed right up against his chest while his arms surrounded her and the bump.

Hermione was the first to drift off, feeling safe and secure with Draco back in her life. Draco watched Hermione sleep for nearly an hour before he himself drifted off to the best night's sleep he had experienced for some months.


	16. Chapter 16

Just a dream. Those were Hermione's first thoughts as she began to drift into consciousness. In the first few months following Draco's accident Hermione would often dream of him, waking up in the morning having temporarily forgotten what had happened. She would then have to deal with the reality of her life as it sunk in that Draco wasn't coming back. It was starting to become too devastating to relive the pain of losing Draco on a regular basis so Hermione was relieved when the dreams had finally subsided.

Hermione was surprised the dreams had returned but she was determined to get her groggy brain to remember the reality before she awoke properly and was confronted with an empty bed and no fiancé. Hermione was repeating it was just a dream in her head as she began to wake up fully. It was only as she became more aware of her surroundings that Hermione became conscious of an arm wrapped around her waist, a hand settled on her bump, and a steady breathing noise behind her.

Hermione lay still as she contemplated what the arm around her waist and the sound of someone lying behind her meant. It wasn't a dream, it had really happened, Draco was alive. Moving carefully, as not to disturb Draco, Hermione turned around so she could see the man lying beside her.

Hermione lay watching Draco for several minutes, still not quite believing he was back. Hermione was half afraid that if she left Draco alone that when she returned to the room he would be gone and she would find it had all been in her mind after all. After nearly half an hour of watching Draco sleep Hermione found she couldn't avoid leaving him for any longer, she had to use the bathroom.

Still trying not to disturb Draco, Hermione wriggled herself out of his embrace and began to climb out of bed. Hermione was just about to stand up when Draco's hand suddenly wrapped round her wrist.

"Don't go." He mumbled groggily, from behind Hermione.

Hermione turned to find Draco had his eyes partly open as he held onto her wrist, preventing her from leaving him.

"I have to use the bathroom, I'll be two minutes." Hermione said, leaning over and kissing Draco on the forehead before heading towards the bathroom.

When Hermione returned from the bathroom a few minutes later Draco was still lying in bed but he now looked fully awake. Hermione smiled at Draco before climbing back into bed beside him.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you." Hermione said, leaning over and kissing Draco gently.

"If it's anything like how much I've missed you, I've got a good idea." Draco replied as they broke the kiss.

Hermione smiled briefly before settling down next to Draco. Draco wrapped his arm around Hermione's waist, pulling her closer to him as his fingers drew patterns on her hip. For several minutes the couple lay in silence, merely enjoying the fact they were reunited.

"This feels so weird." Hermione sighed after a while.

"What?" Draco asked.

"Lying here with you." Hermione answered. "I've spent the past six months trying to come to terms with the fact that I was never going to see you again, and now here we are together."

"I'm sorry you had to go through all that only to have me spoil it by returning." Draco said quietly. He hadn't really thought about the fact Hermione would have dealt with the idea of not seeing him again.

"You didn't spoil anything." Hermione said, turning her head so she could see Draco. "If I'm being honest, I can admit that I never dealt with your death. I pretended to myself that I was coping and that I had accepted that you were gone, but deep down I refused to let you go. I kept all of your belongings packed up in the study, I simply refused to get rid of them. I also have several things dotted around the house, that helped me remember you."

"What things?" Draco asked. While Draco was pleased that Hermione hadn't gotten over him quickly he was aware of how bad it would have been for Hermione if he really had been dead.

"You already know about your aftershave in the bathroom." Hermione said, referring to the incident the previous night. "I have a couple of your books on the bookshelf in the front room. On the message board in the kitchen I have a note you once wrote hidden under some other papers. I keep your old Quidditch jersey in my pyjama drawer, then there's this." Hermione finished by pulling the silver chain out from under her pyjama top.

"Are you talking about your engagement ring or my signet ring?" Draco asked. He was shocked he hadn't noticed the chain before as Hermione never normally wore jewellery to bed, apart from her engagement ring.

"Your ring. I found it the day you went away for the weekend, I put it on the chain the day after they declared you dead. I haven't taken the chain off since." Hermione said. "My ring is only on there because my fingers are too swollen to wear it."

"Are you planning on putting it back where it belongs when you can?" Draco asked.

"Is that your way of asking me if I'm still marrying you?" Hermione said, smiling at Draco. "Because if it is it's not very romantic."

"One proposal was nerve wracking enough." Draco said. "I don't think I'd survive a second one."

"Not even when you already know the answer?" Hermione asked.

"Fine." Draco rolled his eyes at Hermione, before suddenly turning serious. "Hermione Granger, will you marry me?"

"Of course I will." Hermione smiled, giving him a quick kiss. "Although I don't know why you felt you had to ask again." She added with a sly grin.

Draco's mouth dropped open in surprise, causing Hermione to burst out laughing. She had missed the ease in which she could wind Draco up and his outraged reaction whenever she did so. Hermione had also missed laughing, it was something she had done very little of over the last six months.

Hermione's joyful laughter was contagious and soon Draco found himself laughing along with her. After a few minutes the couple stopped laughing and Draco sat up slightly, pulling Hermione onto his lap.

"As soon as it can that ring is going back on your finger." Draco said, playing with the dangling ring around Hermione's neck. "And it will be joined by a wedding ring as quickly as possible."

"You want to get married quickly?" Hermione asked in surprise. She had assumed that Draco meant getting married sometime in the future, when everything had settled down and their lives were back to normal.

"Definitely." Draco nodded. "I'd marry you today, if it was possible."

"There's no way I'm getting married while I'm pregnant." Hermione protested. "I'm sure we can manage to arrange something for shortly after Lyra's birth."

"Good, the sooner we're married, the better." Draco said with a smile.

"I couldn't agree more." Hermione said, leaning down and kissing Draco.

Unlike the other kisses they had shared since Draco's return the kiss soon became more heated. Draco's hands began to slowly wander under Hermione's pyjama top, exploring the changes in her body that had come with her pregnancy.

Hermione briefly thought about stopping Draco before they got too carried away, she knew he would want to go and visit his mother sometime today before the press got hold of his return. All thoughts of stopping however were banished from Hermione's mind when Draco pulled her pyjama top over her head, revealing her bare torso to his eyes. Hermione knew from the look in Draco's eyes that the couple wouldn't be leaving the bedroom for some time, something she had no objection to after spending six months without him.

* * *

Narcissa Malfoy had only just returned home from a morning's shopping when her elf, Binky, appeared in the front hallway. Narcissa was slightly taken aback by her elf's sudden appearance, as a free elf Binky normally waited to be called before appearing.

"Miss Hermione is in the sun room." Binky informed Narcissa, explaining her sudden appearance.

"Thank you Binky." Narcissa smiled at the little elf. " Did you make sure she was comfortable?"

"Yes, miss." Binky nodded.

"Good. Would you bring me a cup of tea then please, I'll join Hermione." Narcissa said as she finished taking off her traveling cloak and hanging it up.

Binky nodded and apparated away as Narcissa magically sent her shopping bags up to her room and the nursery. Narcissa then smoothed her robes down before setting off to the sun room in the back of the house. The sun room was a large room with three glass walls that looked out onto the magnificent gardens, the room was Narcissa's favourite in the Manor so she was pleased that was where Hermione was waiting for her.

"Hermione how are you?" Narcissa asked, greeting the witch as she entered the room.

Narcissa hadn't expected to see Hermione so soon so she subtly checked for any problems as she hugged the woman that should have been her daughter-in-law. As the two women settled back down on the sofa Narcissa couldn't help but notice that Hermione was much happier then when she had seen her the previous day. For the first time in her pregnancy Narcissa could honestly say that Hermione had the glow that pregnant woman were supposedly meant to have.

"I'm great Narcissa." Hermione smiled brightly at the older witch.

"You look it." Narcissa noted, she was beginning to wonder what had made Hermione look so radiant. Her obvious thought was a man, while Narcissa knew that Hermione would move on one day she hadn't thought the younger witch was ready to let Draco go just yet.

Hermione was just wondering how to broach the subject of Draco's return when Binky apparated into the room with a tea tray. Hermione was relieved when Narcissa started speaking with her elf and fussing with her tea, it gave her more time to think.

Hermione and Draco had decided the best way to tell Narcissa was for Hermione to speak to her first before Draco made an appearance. Hermione thought it was a good idea but unfortunately the couple had forgotten to discuss exactly how Hermione would break the news to Narcissa.

"You know I heard the strangest thing this morning." Narcissa said, once she had sorted her tea. "I was in that new baby store in Diagon Alley when two women came in. I wasn't trying to overhear you understand, their voices just happened to carry to where I was standing."

Hermione stifled her laugh at Narcissa's protests of eavesdropping, she knew the older witch was a notorious gossip and couldn't pass up an opportunity to listen in on a conversation that she felt would be interesting.

"Anyway, one of the women lives next door to Blaise and Pansy." Narcissa continued, oblivious to Hermione's amusement. "According to her their house was raided early this morning. Auror's were swarming all over the property apparently, although there was no sign of Pansy or Blaise. You should have heard the outrageous things she was accusing them of, if we hadn't been in a public place I would have given the woman a piece of my mind. I'm sure it's all some stupid misunderstanding."

Hermione was silent for a few minutes as she listened to what Narcissa was telling her, unknowingly the witch had given her the perfect opening to have the discussion she came for in the first place.

"It's not a misunderstanding." Hermione said. "I know exactly why the Auror's raided their house."

"How? I know you're friends with Harry but surely he's not allowed to tell you any information." Narcissa said, puzzled by Hermione's knowledge of the morning's events.

"I know because Harry visited me last night to inform me about his latest investigation. He told me he had arrested Blaise and Pansy alongside Theo, Daphne, Crabbe and Goyle." Hermione said.

"Why have they arrested them and why inform you?" Narcissa asked, even more confused by what was happening.

Hermione took a deep breath before she spoke again. "Narcissa, Draco's not dead. His friends faked his death and have been holding him captive for the last six months."

Narcissa shook her head slowly, taking Hermione's hand in her own. "I know this is hard, Hermione." She began, shooting the younger witch a sympathetic look. "Believe me there are times I would love to believe that this has been some horrid mistake and Draco was still with us, but he's not. He's gone Hermione, you need to accept it."

Hermione was stunned, in all her deliberations over Narcissa's reaction she never once thought the witch wouldn't believe her.

"Narcissa, I'm not making this up." Hermione insisted, determined to get the witch to listen to her. "Draco's alive. Harry found him yesterday, he returned home last night. In fact he came here with me this afternoon."

"Hermione, that's just not possible." Narcissa said, wondering if the young witch had suffered from a breakdown of some sort, she'd definitely being under plenty of pressure these last few months.

"Actually it is possible." A voice from the doorway said. Draco had been listening to the conversation and had decided the best way to get his mother to believe Hermione was to reveal himself.

Narcissa whirled round at the sound of Draco's voice. Unable to believe her eyes Narcissa shakily stood up to get a better look. The moment Draco stepped closer to his mother and she got a good look at her son, she promptly fainted.

"Narcissa." Hermione called, getting off the sofa and hurrying to her side.

Draco had also hurried to his mother's side, upset that his appearance had caused such a reaction. He hadn't wanted to appear in such a dramatic fashion but his mother was incredibly stubborn and Draco could tell that she wasn't going to believe what Hermione was telling her without proof.

Draco picked up his mother and placed her on the sofa. Once Narcissa was settled, Hermione pulled out her wand to wake her up. Once the reviving spell had hit her Narcissa slowly opened her eyes, focusing on Hermione.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked.

"No, I thought I saw…" Narcissa trailed off as she spotted Draco hovering beside the sofa.

"Hello mother." Draco said, crouching down beside the sofa.

"Draco!" Narcissa exclaimed, reaching out to touch her son. "Oh, Draco." She cried, pulling him into an embrace once she had confirmed he was real.

Draco let his mother hug him for several minutes, trying to comfort her at the same time as she was crying heavily. Eventually breaking away from his mother Draco noticed that not only was Narcissa crying, Hermione was also weeping softly.

"Honestly, do you both have to cry?" Draco sighed. "You two are probably the two strongest women I've ever met. Before now I've barely seen either of you cry, now you insist on doing it together."

"I'm pregnant." Hermione sniffed. "Pregnant women are emotional."

"I've got an excuse as well." Narcissa said, sitting up properly on the sofa. "My only son has returned home after we spent six months thinking he was dead. I think that deserves a few tears."

"I suppose, but don't make a habit of it." Draco said, sitting down next to his mother and pulling Hermione down next to him.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you, Hermione." Narcissa said, feeling guilty for dismissing her when she had tried to tell her what was happening.

"It's alright, I suppose it is quite hard to believe." Hermione shrugged. She doubted whether she would have believed Draco was alive if she hadn't seen him for herself the previous night.

"Your friends really did this?" Narcissa asked Draco, still finding it hard to believe the people who had known her son for so long could subject him to such torture.

"Yes." Draco nodded.

"I need to know what happened." Narcissa said. "Please tell me."

Draco nodded, he knew it would be tough for his mother hearing what he had been through but he also knew that she needed to know about his experience.

"I'll leave you to it." Hermione said. She didn't think she could stand to listen to Draco relive the past six months again, once was bad enough for Hermione.

"I'll walk you to the floo." Draco said, helping Hermione up off the sofa. "Mother why don't you get us some refreshments so we can talk when I return."

Narcissa agreed and called for Binky, after saying goodbye to Hermione and apologising again for not believing her.

Hermione and Draco walked silently to the parlour, where the floo network was located. Stopping in front of the fire Hermione turned to Draco, giving him a hug. Draco buried his head in Hermione's shoulder, gaining strength from her support, he knew the next few hours would be tough as he filled his mother in on the last six months. Draco also hoped to gain more information about how Hermione had really coped in his absence, despite her confession earlier Draco felt that Hermione hadn't really told him how hard it had been for her lately.

"I'll sort your stuff out when I get home, that way when you return it'll feel more like home." Hermione said.

"It feels like home, because that's where you are." Draco said, placing a soft kiss on Hermione's cheek. "But it will be nice to have my things around the place."

"I'll see you later." Hermione said, grabbing some floo powder. "Try not to be too long."

"I'll be as quick as I can." Draco promised. He didn't want to rush off and leave his mother but he also didn't want to be parted from Hermione for any longer than was necessary.

Hermione gave Draco a quick kiss before stepping into the flames and disappearing. Draco watched his fiancé leave before he turned around and headed back to his mother, it was time to once again relive the last six months. Draco only hoped that this next conversation would be the last time he would ever have to discuss his imprisonment.


	17. Chapter 17

Carefully Hermione picked her way through the boxes littering the front room as she headed towards the kitchen in search of a drink. She was in the middle of replacing Draco's belongings around the penthouse and while most of the work could be done with magic there were several places where Hermione found it easier to do things manually.

Before she needed a drink Hermione had been sorting out the enormous bookcase, adding Draco's collection to the wooden shelves and using it as an opportunity to sort her own books. Technically Hermione could have arranged the books using magic but she found it soothing dealing with books so she had decided to sort the bookcase out manually.

While Hermione was in the kitchen making a drink she became aware of the fact that she hadn't thought about making anything to eat. After spending all morning in the bedroom she and Draco only had time for a quick bite to eat before heading to the Manor to visit Narcissa. Suddenly feeling peckish Hermione picked up an apple to be eating as she searched the cupboards in search of ingredients to make a decent meal.

Until she started looking Hermione had no idea about what food she had in the house, over the last few months it had been her mother that had ensured her kitchen was fully stocked. Hermione was pleased to discover that she had the ingredients for several dishes, she now just had to decide what to make. Hermione's culinary skills were minimal so realistically she was only able to make a handful of meals, luckily for her Draco liked everything she could cook.

Hermione was busy debating between making chicken parmesan or chicken pasta salad when she vaguely heard the front door open. Hermione carried on rummaging through the fridge, looking for something to make dessert with. Hermione had gotten so used to her mother just entering the penthouse she didn't think to go and see who had entered her home until she heard her mother's voice.

"Hermione Jean Granger, what on earth do you think you're doing?"

Shutting the fridge door Hermione suddenly remembered that Draco's belongings were still scattered all over the front room. Hermione turned to leave the kitchen so she could speak with her mother when a furious Helen suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"This is the final straw, Hermione." Helen raged, not giving her daughter the chance to speak. "It's bad enough that you've kept all of Draco's things but now you're putting them back out."

"Mum, I can explain." Hermione said, trying to stop her mother's rant.

"I'm not interested." Helen said, refusing to let Hermione say anything more. "This can't continue. I'm calling your father and we're going to take everything that belonged to Draco away. It's also time we spoke about some sort of counselling, this isn't healthy."

Turning on her heel Helen marched back into the front room, still ranting about Hermione unpacking Draco's belongings. Hermione took a few calming breaths before heading after her mother. When she arrived in the front room Hermione found Helen repacking the box of books that Hermione had just unpacked moments before.

"Mum, stop it." Hermione said. "We need to talk."

"We can talk after." Helen said, not pausing in her packing. "I've let this go on too long, I knew I should have insisted you see a counsellor earlier."

"Stop it, now." Hermione shouted, whipping her wand out and pointing it at her mother in anger.

"Don't you dare point that thing at me, Hermione." Helen said, paling slightly at the sight of her furious daughter.

"If it's the only way to get you to listen to me then it's what I'll do." Hermione said. She knew she was overreacting and shouldn't be pointing her wand at her mother but Hermione couldn't seem to stop herself.

"Fine I'll listen to you." Helen said cautiously. "But first we should…"

Hermione never found out what her mother thought they should do because the sound of the floo network interrupted her. Hermione realised what was going to happen seconds before Draco stepped out of the flames, unfortunately it wasn't enough time to warn her mother about who to expect.

"Hey, I said I…" Draco's greeting was cut off by a high pitched scream coming from Hermione's mother.

Draco, who hadn't spotted Helen in the room, whirled round at the sound. Realising what had happened Draco turned to Hermione for help, dealing with a hysterical woman wasn't something he had expected to face upon his return home.

"Mum, why don't you sit down." Hermione said, slowly approaching a still shaking Helen.

"He's… not possible… some sort of ghost." Hermione forcefully sat her mother down as she rambled on about what she had seen.

"Draco's not a ghost." Hermione said, wondering if she would have to use magic to calm her mother.

As Hermione tried to calm her mother she couldn't help but think it was odd that she had acted the most rational and calm upon seeing Draco. Both Narcissa and Helen had reacted far more strongly than she had, Hermione idly wondered if her calmer reaction was due to the fact that she had never really accepted that Draco was gone for good.

"How, it's not possible." Helen said, slowly regaining her composure.

"It's a long story." Hermione said.

"If you don't mind, I'll leave you to it." Draco said, not wanting to relive his imprisonment yet again.

Hermione watched as Draco left the room, heading towards the bedroom. Hermione wondered how things had gone with Narcissa, Draco looked distinctly more upset than when she had left him a few hours ago. Hermione really wanted to go and check on Draco but she knew she had to deal with her mother first.

"Are you going to explain what's going on?" Helen asked, sounding more like herself.

Hermione nodded and began filling Helen in on events of the last six months. Helen listened quietly, shocked and appalled as Hermione told her what had happened. She also felt guilty for pushing Hermione to move on with her life.

By the time Hermione had finished telling her mother all that had happened she was once again crying. Helen pulled her daughter close as she let her cry, hoping that it would help her deal with what had happened.

"How's Draco coping?" Helen asked once Hermione had calmed down.

"I'm not sure." Hermione admitted. "We've talked about what's happened and things seem normal but I'm not sure he's really dealt with what's happened yet."

"I'm sure he just needs time, I think both of you probably do." Helen said. "Do you know what'll happen to the people that did this?"

"They'll probably end up in prison, but we'll know more once we've spoken to Harry." Hermione explained. "We're expecting him in a couple of hours."

"I should be going, leave you and Draco alone." Helen said, standing up. "Tell Draco that I'm pleased he's back."

"I will." Hermione smiled, walking to the front door with her mother.

After seeing her mother out of the penthouse Hermione ignored the mess in the front room and headed straight for the bedroom to check on Draco. Hermione found Draco lying on the bed, the thick curtains closed tightly causing the room to be shrouded in darkness. Hermione climbed onto the bed next to Draco, propping herself up against the pillows.

"Are you alright?" She asked, running her hands through Draco's hair.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Draco replied, moving closer to Hermione and placing a hand on her stomach.

Hermione and Draco lay quietly for several minutes, Hermione's hand running through Draco's hair as he gently caressed her bump. Hermione found she had no idea of what to say, she was aware that while she and Draco had tried to pretend everything was fine now he was back at home there were still plenty more issues to work through. No matter how much they wanted to pretend the last six months hadn't happened, Hermione knew that it would take a long time before they managed to get over what had happened.

"I've never see her like that before." Draco said quietly, breaking the silence in the darkened room. "She's always been so strong, even during the war when things were really bad, she never broke."

"What happened?" Hermione asked, knowing Draco was speaking about his mother.

"It was just really hard for her hearing what had happened." Draco said, remembering the state his mother had gotten into as he spoke. "I'm not sure it's something she can ever fully recover from. By the time I'd finished telling her what had happened she looked so fragile and broken."

"I'm sure it's a hard thing to cope with, knowing your only child has been through something so horrific and you had no idea they were suffering." Hermione said. The thought of their daughter going through something like what Draco had made Hermione feel ill so she could only imagine what Narcissa felt.

"How do I help her?" Draco asked, looking up at Hermione who immediately saw the unshed tears glistening in his grey eyes. "All my life she's been there for me and helped me cope when things were bad. Now she's hurting and I have no idea how to help her."

"You help her simply by being here." Hermione told Draco. "Knowing what happened to you might by hard for her, but having you back will make it better."

"I hope so." Draco sighed.

"It will, she just needs time to come to terms with things." Hermione reassured.

"How did your mother react to my return?" Draco asked, changing the subject.

"She was shocked but happy." Hermione said, letting Draco change the subject without hassling him. She knew seeing Narcissa so upset would have hurt him a lot and she understood why he didn't want to talk about it for too long.

"I would say shocked was an understatement." Draco said with a smile. "She nearly gave me a heart attack with her screaming."

"Well she hadn't expected to see you." Hermione pointed out. "She hadn't exactly given me a chance to warn her."

"Let's guess she just came in and began talking, not bothering to let anyone else get a word in." Draco said. "I wonder who that reminds me of." He added with a smirk.

"Hey, I'm not that bad." Hermione protested, hitting Draco on the arm.

"No, not yet." Draco said, dodging out of the way when Hermione went to hit him again.

Hermione mock glared at Draco for a minute before she attempted to get off the bed.

"Where are you going?" Draco asked, stopping Hermione before she stood up.

"The front room is still a mess and I need to make a start on dinner before Harry arrives." Hermione said.

"Stay here a bit longer." Draco said, pulling Hermione back onto the bed with him. "We can tidy the front room in a few minutes with magic, dinner can wait and Harry isn't coming over for another few hours."

"Okay." Hermione replied, settling down next to Draco.

Draco pulled Hermione closer into his arms and for the next hour the couple lay on the bed talking about their upcoming future as parents.

* * *

Nearly three and a half hours after he had arranged to visit Hermione and Draco, Harry finally made it to their penthouse. With the investigation into the Slytherin group and their actions over the last six months Harry found himself having to push the meeting back with his friends.

"Come in, Harry." Hermione smiled widely at her friend as she answered the door.

"Sorry I'm late, things got hectic at work." Harry apologised stepping into the hallway and removing his jacket. "I assume you got my owl."

"Yes." Hermione nodded. "And it's fine about being late, we're just grateful you're keeping us updated."

As Harry followed Hermione into the front room he couldn't help but notice how much happier she was now that she had Draco back. As he greeted Draco, Harry was also pleased to see the blond man looking more like his normal self.

"Before we start, this is for you." Harry said to Draco, pulling a wand from his pocket and handing it to the former Slytherin.

"Thank Harry." Draco said, relieved to once again be in possession of his wand.

"You're welcome." Harry smiled, settling down in a chair while Draco and Hermione sat down together on the sofa. "It was at Zabini's house, we found it this morning."

"Do you want a drink, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"No, I can't stay long. I'm meeting Ginny for a quick drink, she wants to talk." Harry said. "I really only popped in to keep you let you know what's happening."

"Well what is happening?" Draco asked. "Are they talking?"

"First of all they've all been charged with various offences. Pansy, Blaise and Theo have the most charges against their names." Harry said. "Crabbe and Goyle have admitted their part in proceedings but the odd thing is they don't seem to have anything against you, whenever they mention you it's clear they like you. They both made it clear that they would never have killed you or stood back and let anyone else do it. Honestly, I'm confused by their involvement."

"My guess is they were the muscle." Draco said. "As you know they're not particularly bright and it's really easy to talk them into doing whatever you want. If either Pansy, Blaise or Theo convinced them that what they were doing was for the best, they would have gone along with it quite easily."

"That does fit with everything we know." Harry mused, starting to understand the two men's involvement slightly better.

"What about the others? What are they saying?" Hermione asked, knowing that Harry would have gained little helpful information from Crabbe and Goyle.

"Blaise and Pansy aren't talking at all. Even after they received their legal representation they still refused to talk. My guess is they won't talk at all." Harry explained. "Theo on the other hand has admitted everything. I've actually spent the majority of the afternoon and evening interviewing him, he's pretty much told us everything, from the moment the idea was first mentioned right up until to the capture yesterday."

"What about Daphne?" Draco asked. "I was really surprised to see her yesterday. Even though I knew Theo was involved I never for one minute thought Daphne was capable of being mixed up in what they were doing."

"Daphne is actually in St. Mungo's, under medical supervision." Harry told a shocked Hermione and Draco. "It turns out that she initially knew about the idea but began having second thoughts after witnessing the fallout of the accident. When she threatened to go to the authorities Theo slipped her a potion that basically made her gullible to suggestions, he removed any knowledge she had of the plan and had her convinced that Draco actually was dead."

"That explains how shocked she looked to see me yesterday." Draco said, remembering how surprised she had appeared when he entered the room.

"Yes, the events of yesterday have shaken her pretty badly. She spent last night with the others in holding cells at the Ministry but this morning the potion was beginning to wear off, it turns out she needed a regular dose to keep her memories from returning. Once the potion began to wear off she became hysterical as she remembered what had happened. She was taken to St. Mungo's for treatment and the healers kept her in, they think she's on the verge of having a breakdown."

"She won't end up in Azkaban will she?" Draco asked, feeling sorry for Daphne despite her initial willingness to go along with her friends plans.

"I doubt it." Harry shook his head. "While she may have originally known what happened, she didn't take any actual part in your imprisonment. Then there's the fact that without Theo's interfering she would have approached us months ago to tell us about you. Of course as the victim if you're unhappy with the decision the Auror department makes regarding her charges and possible punishment you have the right to appeal."

"I don't want Daphne being punished any more than she already is." Draco said. "The others can quite happily rot in Azkaban for all I care."

"I'm sure they will." Harry said. He had already decided that he would push for the harshest punishments available for the other five. "There's something else I want to discuss before I leave."

"What?" Hermione asked.

"The press." Harry couldn't help but smile as Draco audibly groaned at the mention of the press. "They already know something is going on, but we'll have to release some sort of official statement tomorrow."

"So, what does that have to do with us?" Draco shrugged.

Draco knew his return from the dead would make headlines but he wasn't willing to personally deal with the media. After the war there had been a large portion of the press that had been infuriated with the result of his trial, firmly believing he should have joined his father in Azkaban. Over the last few years the press reports surrounding him had been kinder as he proved to people he had changed but there were still enough nasty and judgemental articles to make him wary of dealing with the press.

"Well obviously we'll be listing the charges against the group so they will all find out you're alive. I'm guessing you won't want to be bothered by the media so I was wondering if you wanted us to release a statement on your behalf. I can also issue an official warning about approaching either of you two or Narcissa."

"Thanks Harry. When will you need a statement?" Hermione asked.

"Kingsley has the press conference scheduled for midday." Harry said. "It's up to you if you want to send me over a written statement I can read out or if you just want to tell me a few words now."

"I'm sure I could think of a few things to say." Draco muttered.

"I'll sort something out and owl it to you tomorrow morning." Hermione interrupted Draco, she knew that after his bad experiences with the press in the past her fiancé could be less than patient with them.

"That's fine." Harry said, standing up. "I should be off."

Saying goodbye to the couple Harry headed for the front door, he had insisted he could manage when Hermione had made to stand up. Gathering his jacket Harry rushed off to meet Ginny, he still had no idea where their relationship stood but he was pleased that at least Hermione and Draco were back together and happy.

"Do you want to do the statement now?" Hermione asked as Harry let himself out of the penthouse.

"There's not really a lot to say, basically we're happy it's all behind us now and we won't be speaking about it." Draco shrugged.

"I suppose that does sum things up." Hermione said. "I'll sort it in the morning, maybe make it sound less abrupt."

"As long as you make it clear that I won't be discussing anything regarding the last six months, other than that you can make it sound as nice as you want." Draco shrugged.

Hermione nodded, lifting her hand to cover her mouth as she yawned. "I think I'll go to bed, I'm really tired."

"I'll join you." Draco said, helping Hermione up from the sofa.

"Fine, but as long as you know I meant it when I said I was tired, I'm going to bed to actually sleep." Hermione said, leading the way towards the bedroom.

"Sleeping's fine with me." Draco said. "I'm far too tired to do anything else. These past few days have been exhausting."

Together the couple went about their nightly routine before climbing into their large bed together. Totally exhausted, both emotionally and physically, by the past few days the couple fell asleep in each other's arms.


	18. Epilogue

**Thanks to everyone who favourited/followed/reviewed. The feedback and support I receive are amazing and helps keep me motivated. I hope people enjoy the end of this story.**

* * *

**One Year Later.**

Hermione manoeuvred her way through the crowded corridors of St. Mungo's, pleased that her shift was over. While Hermione wished she was heading home directly from work she first had to head to the shops to buy Lyra's birthday present.

It was Lyra's first birthday over the weekend and Narcissa had arranged a small party at the Manor for Sunday afternoon. Hermione and Draco already had several presents for Lyra, and despite knowing she would be spoiled rotten by the rest of the family and their friends Hermione really wanted to get her daughter a few more pieces for her nursery. The room was already full of girly princess things but Hermione had seen several pieces she had fallen in love with in a nearby store.

Hermione emerged from the main entrance of St. Mungo's and was about to cross the road when a voice behind her called her name. Hermione turned to see who was shouting of her, her eyes widening as she recognised Daphne and her sister, Astoria.

After Draco's rescue Daphne had suffered a complete breakdown and was in the hospital for a few months, even now she still attended regular check-ups and counselling sessions as part of her recovery. When she was released from hospital she was assigned several hours community service as her part in Draco's abduction and imprisonment.

Hermione hadn't seen Daphne since just before Draco's rescue but she had met Astoria since then. A few months after Draco returned home Astoria paid them a visit, apologising for Daphne's part in what had happened. She also thanked Draco for accepting Daphne's lean punishment and not pressing for something more severe.

"I know I'm probably the last person you want to see, but when I spotted you I had to say something." Daphne said, approaching Hermione warily. "Nothing I can say can make up for what happened but I want you to know how sorry I am, I would give anything to be able to change what I did. I also want to thank you and Draco for not trying to get me a custodial sentence, even though I probably deserved it."

"No, you didn't." Hermione shook her head. She knew plenty of people in her position would hate the woman for the trauma she had partly been responsible for but Hermione couldn't help but feel that Daphne had suffered enough for her crimes. "While what you did was awful at least you wanted to make things right."

"I wish I had made things right." Daphne said. "I've spent months regretting my decision not to speak up at Draco's funeral, things would have been so different if I'd been brave enough to speak then."

"Yes, they would have." Hermione agreed with Daphne. "But we can't change the past. We've just got to be grateful that everything worked out in the end."

"I'm pleased that things are good with you and Draco. Goodbye, Hermione. Thank you for listening to me." Daphne turned back to Astoria as the two women prepared to enter the hospital.

"Daphne wait." Hermione called, stopping the two women in their tracks. "Don't live in the past. Neither Draco or I harbour any grudges against you. We've moved on, you should try to do the same."

Daphne smiled sadly at the woman who had every right to hate her. "I'll try."

"Goodbye Daphne, Astoria." Hermione nodded to the two women before turning round and continuing on her way.

After seeing Daphne, Hermione couldn't stop thinking about events a year ago. While what she had told Daphne was true, she and Draco had moved on, his imprisonment still cast a shadow over their lives. Despite all the perpetrators being in Azkaban and the incident seemingly forgotten it was still dredged up anytime The Daily Prophet or another media outlet decided to write about the Malfoy family for whatever reason.

Totally distracted Hermione did her shopping in record time before she headed back home, hoping that seeing her daughter and husband would brighten her mood.

Hermione had gone into labour exactly five weeks after Draco had returned home. After several hours in agonising labour, during which Hermione had told Draco that they wouldn't be having sex again, Lyra Hope Malfoy was born. Draco had picked the middle name because it had been Hermione and Lyra that had kept him going throughout his ordeal, they were who had given him hope when he was at his lowest.

Hermione and Draco had married three months after Lyra's birth in an intimate ceremony that took place in the gardens of Malfoy Manor. Only family and close friends were present, it was a lovely day filled with happiness and laughter. Narcissa had insisted having Lyra as soon as the wedding was over so the couple could spend a few days away on honeymoon. After a romantic weekend in Paris, Hermione and Draco collected Lyra from Narcissa and the three of them had spent the next fortnight on a private island in the Caribbean.

When she arrived home Hermione magically sent her shopping into the bedroom and headed into the front room, expecting to find her daughter and husband. Hermione stopped in surprise when instead of Draco playing on the floor with Lyra she found her mother sitting with her granddaughter.

"Hi, mum." Hermione greeted her mother with a smile. "What are you doing here?"

"Draco called a few hours ago, there was an emergency at work so he asked me to look after Lyra for a few hours." Helen answered, getting up off the floor.

"Draco's actually gone into work?" Hermione asked in surprise as she picked her daughter up off her play mat on the floor.

"Yes." Helen nodded, smiling brightly. "I hate to rush off as soon as you arrive but I really must go."

"That's fine." Hermione said, walking with her mother to the front door. "Thanks for looking after Lyra."

"It's my pleasure, she's an angel." Helen said, cooing at her granddaughter. "Besides as soon as Draco mentioned he was going to work, I wasn't about to refuse."

"Thank you for that as well." Hermione said.

"It's fine Hermione, anything to help get things back to normal." Helen said, saying goodbye and leaving the penthouse.

After her mother left Hermione went into the kitchen and placed Lyra into her highchair. "Let's get you fed, little missy."

As Hermione fed her daughter she thought about Draco, hoping the fact he had gone to work was a good sign. When he had first returned home Draco had understandably decided to take some time off work after everything that had happened. After Lyra was born the subject of Draco returning to work wasn't mentioned for a while, between the wedding preparations and having a new-born baby to look after neither Hermione or Draco were too concerned with work. It was only after they returned from honeymoon that Hermione expressed her desire to return to work, even if it was only part time. It was during those discussions that Draco said he would be more than happy to stay at home with Lyra while Hermione worked, he argued that it saved them the bother of arranging childcare when they were both busy. At the time Hermione had readily agreed, thinking it was an ideal solution.

While it worked fine for the first few months, Hermione soon realised that as much as Draco loved looking after Lyra he was becoming bored stuck at home all day. Hermione had suggested that Draco return to work part time, organising his hours around her shifts at the hospital. Draco had agreed to the idea but a few days before he was due to return to work he had suddenly announced that he wasn't ready and he would continue to stay at home with their daughter. Since then Hermione had occasionally suggested that Draco return to work, but up until now the best she had managed was for Draco to arrange a few meetings with his second in command, who was currently running the company.

Hermione knew that Draco needed to get back to work before he went mad with boredom but she was reluctant to push her husband. She knew his reluctance to return to work was a consequence of what had happened to him at the hands of his friends. Since the event Draco only spoke of what happened occasionally, but whenever he did feel the need to speak about it Hermione always made sure she made the time to listen to her husband.

After feeding Lyra, Hermione took her daughter back into the living room where they played for a little while. Once it was approaching her daughters bedtime Hermione gathered Lyra up in her arms and carried her into the bathroom. After bathing Lyra, which resulted in Hermione and the bathroom ending up soaking wet, Hermione settled her daughter into bed. Hermione was sitting reading to Lyra when she heard the floo network sound, a couple of minutes of later Draco appeared in the doorway.

Hermione smiled at the sight of Draco dressed his in work clothes, something she had missed this past year. "I'm nearly finished." She whispered.

"You do know she's already asleep." Draco said, moving quietly into the room. "You're just reading for the sake of it."

Hermione sighed, putting down the book and looking at her sleeping daughter. After checking the night light and intercom were switched on Draco and Hermione left the nursery. Heading for the kitchen Hermione began to get dinner ready while Draco leant against the kitchen table watching her.

"How was work?" Hermione asked.

"Hectic." Draco replied. "One of the company's we do a lot of business with has gone bankrupt. That means we have to find other people to fill their role, and quickly."

"Does that mean you'll be going back in tomorrow?" Hermione asked, making sure to keep her back to Draco so he wouldn't see the large grin on her face.

"Yes." Draco answered slowly, unsure of how Hermione would react to his next announcement. "Actually I was thinking it might be time to get back to work properly. Maybe If I'd been there when the rumours started circling I could have prevented some of the mess we're in now."

"Is the company in much trouble?" Hermione asked, turning round to face Draco. From his last statement she was worried that things could be bad.

"Nothing I can't fix." Draco reassured Hermione with a smile. "So how would you feel about me going back to work?"

"If that's what you want, then great." Hermione said, moving over to Draco and wrapping her arms around his waist. "Would it be part time or full time?"

"Ideally full time, although I was hoping to do a lot more work from home." Draco said.

"I like that idea." Hermione said with a smile.

"Good, we'll have to discuss it later." Draco gave Hermione a quick kiss before unwrapping her arms from around his waist and turning her back to the kitchen counter. "Now cook, witch, I'm hungry." He whispered into her ear before backing off quickly.

"Pig." Hermione tutted, throwing a dishcloth at Draco as he left the kitchen laughing.

"I'm going to get changed." He called as Hermione continued to make dinner.

After dinner, during which they discussed Draco's return to work more thoroughly, Hermione and Draco settled in the front room with a glass of wine. Settled on the sofa Hermione put her legs up on Draco's lap where her husband proceeded to gently massage her sore feet as they discussed Lyra's upcoming birthday party.

"You did control your mother didn't you?" Hermione asked, sighing at the feel Draco's hands. "She understood I didn't want anything too big."

"Nobody can control my mother." Draco replied. "Especially once she gets together with your mother."

"You let them plan the party together." Hermione moaned. "It's going to be huge."

"Don't worry, I kept tight control of the guest list." Draco said. "While neither of them would let me interfere with food and entertainment they were both willing to let me view the guest list."

"Please say you kept it to a minimum." Hermione had every faith that with Draco in control of the guest list that things wouldn't have gotten out of hand.

"Of course." Draco said. "Apart from the family I only invited a few people. Harry, the Weasley's and Longbottom and his wife."

"Are they all coming?" Hermione asked.

"Everyone except Ginny. Apparently she's got a big match to prepare for. Personally I reckon she's just avoiding Harry."

Harry and Ginny had split up the night after Draco's return. When Harry had met Ginny for a drink the redhead had been apologetic and desperate to work things out but after talking late into the night it became obvious to Harry that she wasn't going to change her jealous ways. Harry had done what he should have a long time ago, and ended the relationship. Since then things had been slightly awkward between the pair, especially as Ginny found it hard to control her jealously over the fun Harry had on nights out with Ron. As two single men, Harry and Ron regularly went out and enjoyed the attention they received as war heroes.

"That's her problem." Hermione shrugged. "Did you say Luna and Neville were coming?"

"Yeah, Longbottom popped over yesterday to ask about presents and to get some advice." Draco said. While he was slowly becoming more friendly with Neville, Draco still wasn't close enough to him to use his first name.

"What did he want advice about?" Hermione asked.

"He wanted to know how to be a good father. So of course he came to me." Draco said smugly.

After marrying six months ago Luna and Neville were currently expecting their first children, twins boys, in five moths time. Panicking slightly at the prospect of becoming a father Neville had asked Draco for advice, knowing that he had taken to fatherhood naturally and was great with Lyra.

"He should have gone to Arthur, that man raised seven children." Hermione said. "Now that's a good father."

"Are you saying I have to raise seven children to be considered a good father?" Draco questioned, raising a blond eyebrow. "Because we can make a start on that now, if you want."

Hermione laughed, swinging her legs off Draco's knee she repositioned herself so she was sitting up next to Draco. "You definitely don't need to raise seven children to prove yourself, you're already a great father."

"Do you think so?" Draco asked, suddenly looking unsure of himself.

"Yes Draco, I do think so." Hermione answered, moving so she was straddling Draco's lap. "You're great with Lyra, she adores you. I'm sure you'll be just as good a father to our other children."

"Other children?" Draco questioned, looking at Hermione's flat stomach. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

"No, I'm not pregnant." Hermione laughed. "I meant our future children. Although any time you want to start practicing for a second is fine by me."

"There's no time like the present." Draco grinned, holding onto Hermione as he suddenly stood up.

Hermione squealed and wrapped her legs around Draco's waist as he effortlessly carried her into the bedroom. Reaching the bed Draco dropped Hermione onto it before lying down next to her.

"Damn, I'm knackered now." Draco moaned.

"Hey." Hermione protested. "I'm not that heavy."

Draco laughed before suddenly rolling over, pinning Hermione underneath him. Hermione looked up at Draco and suddenly the atmosphere turned serious as their eyes met.

"I love you, Hermione." Draco said sincerely, brushing a curl out her eyes.

"I love you, too." Hermione replied. "More than anything."

Draco smiled as he brought his lips down to meet Hermione's. Languidly the couple kissed, enjoying the feeling of being together and in love. There was no urgency as they slowly began to undress one another, taking the time to explore each other's bodies before they began to make love.

After everything they had been through they were more aware than ever of how fragile life could be. After Draco's return the couple had vowed to make the most of their time together as they worked on creating a happy life together with their daughter and any future children they might be lucky enough to have.

**The End.**


End file.
